Neuropathic pain is often described as burning, tingling or shooting.
Correct Answer
True
True. Neuropathic pain arises from damaged peripheral or central nerves, as in diabetic neuropathy or after shingles, and it often burns, tingles, shoots or radiates.
Category: Types of Pain
Question 2
Substance P is a chemical messenger that intensifies pain signals.
Correct Answer
True
True. During modulation, substance P strengthens pain transmission, while enkephalins and endorphins weaken it.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 3
Asking whether pain keeps a client from working or caring for children is an assessment of functional impairment.
Correct Answer
True
True. Functional assessment looks at how pain limits daily activities and how that changes with treatment, which adds a more objective measure to the client's pain rating.
Category: Pain Assessment
Question 4
Undertreated pain can lead some people to self-medicate, which increases the risk of substance misuse.
Correct Answer
True
True. When pain is not adequately treated, some people turn to self-medication, which raises the risk of misuse. Adequate, individualized pain management helps reduce this risk.
Category: Pain Assessment
Question 5
The risk of opioid respiratory depression is especially high when therapy starts or the dose is increased.
Correct Answer
True
True. The boxed warning for opioids stresses that serious or fatal respiratory depression is most likely at the start of therapy and after dose increases, so breathing and sedation are watched closely at those times.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 6
Opioid agonists lower the pain threshold, so stimuli feel more painful.
Correct Answer
False
False. By activating opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord, opioid agonists dampen pain signals and raise the pain threshold, so a stronger stimulus is needed before pain is felt.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 7
Prolonged opioid use during pregnancy can cause neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.
Correct Answer
True
True. Opioids cross the placenta, and a newborn exposed for a long time before birth can go into withdrawal after delivery. This is part of the opioid boxed warning.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 8
Accidental ingestion of an opioid by a child can be fatal, so opioids should be stored out of children's reach.
Correct Answer
True
True. Even one dose meant for an adult can cause fatal respiratory depression in a child, so clients are taught to store opioids securely, away from children and pets.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 9
Hydromorphone is a more potent opioid than morphine.
Correct Answer
True
True. Hydromorphone is a semisynthetic derivative of morphine that is several times more potent, so smaller doses produce the same effect and dosing errors are especially dangerous.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 10
Giving naloxone to a person who is physically dependent on opioids can cause abrupt withdrawal.
Correct Answer
True
True. Naloxone displaces opioids from their receptors, so in a dependent person it can trigger sudden withdrawal; smaller, repeated doses reduce this while still restoring breathing.
Category: Opioid Antagonists
Question 11
Provider implicit bias has been linked to overtreatment of pain in Black patients.
Correct Answer
False
False. Implicit bias and false beliefs about physiologic differences have been linked to underestimation and undertreatment of pain in Black patients. Nurses advocate for adequate pain management for every client.
Category: Pain Assessment
Question 12
Tramadol relieves pain solely by activating opioid receptors.
Correct Answer
False
False. Tramadol is a weak opioid agonist that also inhibits reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin, which is why it can cause serotonin syndrome and lower the seizure threshold.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 13
When a dose of an analgesic is missed, the client should take a double dose at the next scheduled time.
Correct Answer
False
False. A missed dose is taken when remembered, but the client should never double a dose, because that raises the risk of toxicity such as liver injury or respiratory depression.
Category: Nonopioid Analgesics
Question 14
Clients with liver disease can safely take higher than usual amounts of acetaminophen.
Correct Answer
False
False. Acetaminophen is metabolized by the liver and can cause hepatotoxicity, so clients with liver disease need lower amounts, and total daily intake from all products is tracked.
Category: Nonopioid Analgesics
Question 15
Morphine is available only as an injection.
Correct Answer
False
False. Morphine, the prototype opioid, is given IV and also orally in immediate-release and extended-release forms for acute and chronic pain.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 16
Opioid receptors are found only in peripheral nerves, not in the brain or spinal cord.
Correct Answer
False
False. Mu, kappa and delta receptors are located throughout the central nervous system, which is why opioids relieve pain and also cause sedation and respiratory depression.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 17
Naltrexone is used for emergency reversal of an opioid overdose.
Correct Answer
False
False. Naloxone is the drug for emergency overdose reversal. Naltrexone is a longer-acting antagonist used to help people maintain abstinence, and it can precipitate withdrawal in someone actively using opioids.
Category: Opioid Antagonists
Question 18
Opioids can cause urinary retention, so the nurse monitors the client's voiding.
Correct Answer
True
True. Opioids can make it hard to empty the bladder, especially in older adults and after surgery, so the nurse checks voiding, output and bladder distention and reports retention.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 19
Sharing leftover opioid tablets with a family member who has similar pain is safe.
Correct Answer
False
False. Opioids are never shared. A dose that is safe for the client can cause fatal respiratory depression in someone else, and shared opioids feed misuse, so leftover tablets are stored securely and disposed of properly.
Category: Opioid Agonists
Question 20
A client whose ibuprofen causes stomach upset should take it on an empty stomach.
Correct Answer
False
False. Ibuprofen is taken with food or milk if it upsets the stomach. Clients are also taught to report signs of GI bleeding, such as black, tarry stools or vomit that looks like coffee grounds.
Category: Nonopioid Analgesics