SCTIMST Staff Nurse - 2016
Medical Surgical Nursing
Easy
Clinical features of Parkinson's disease include the following except?
Appeared in: SCTIMST Staff Nurse - 2016
Explanation
- True muscle weakness, defined as a reduction in the force a muscle can generate, is not a cardinal symptom of Parkinson's disease.
- On a formal neurological examination, muscle strength in individuals with PD is typically found to be normal.
- The patient's perception of weakness or fatigue is a consequence of the immense effort required to move against rigid muscles (rigidity) and the overall slowness of movement (bradykinesia).
Why Other Options Were Wrong
- Option B: Rigidity, or increased muscle tone, is a core motor feature of Parkinson's disease. It contributes to the stiffness and lack of fluid movement seen in patients.
- Option C: Tremor, specifically a resting tremor that often looks like 'pill-rolling', is one of the most recognized and common initial symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
- Option D: Postural instability, characterized by impaired balance and a tendency to fall, is a hallmark of later-stage Parkinson's disease and a major cause of disability.
Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
- Nursing practice connection: Knowing Cardinal motor symptoms of Parkinson's Disease helps nurses interpret findings accurately and avoid errors in routine assessment, medication administration, and patient teaching.
- Nurses must differentiate between a patient's subjective feeling of weakness and objective muscle weakness to accurately assess and report neurological status.
- Fall prevention is a critical nursing priority for patients with PD due to postural instability and gait freezing. Interventions include environmental modifications, assistive devices, and patient education.
- Nursing care involves managing symptoms to maintain independence, including administering medications on a strict schedule to manage motor fluctuations and providing support for activities of daily living.
How to Approach the Question
- First, identify the negative keyword 'except' in the question. This means you are looking for the option that is NOT a feature of Parkinson's disease.
- Recall the classic motor symptoms of Parkinson's. A helpful mnemonic is TRAP: Tremor, Rigidity, Akinesia/Bradykinesia, and Postural instability.
- Systematically evaluate each option against the TRAP mnemonic.
- Option B (Rigidity), Option C (Tremors), and Option D (Postural instability) are all components of the TRAP acronym and are well-known features of PD.
- Option A (Muscle weakness) is not one of the cardinal features. While patients may feel weak due to rigidity and bradykinesia, their actual muscle power is not primarily affected.
- Therefore, 'Muscle weakness' is the correct answer as it is the exception.
Concept Tested & Keywords
- Concept Tested: Cardinal motor symptoms of Parkinson's Disease
- Stem keywords: Parkinson's disease, clinical features
- Lead-in keywords: except
- Negative lead-in flag: The question asks to identify the option that is NOT a clinical feature of Parkinson's disease.
Question ID
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Reference Book
E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) pp. 1844-1846, 1835-1837
Practise the full SCTIMST Staff Nurse - 2016
Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.
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