Question

A nurse is administering erythropoietin (epogen) three times a week to a client receiving chemotherapy for cancer. which client response is considered most significant?

Answer 1

The propositions are:
1. "I realize it is important to take this medication because it will cure my anemia."
2. "I know many ways to protect myself from injury because I am at risk for seizures."
3. "I recognize that I may still need blood transfusions if my blood values are very low."
4. "I understand that I will still have to take supplemental iron therapy with this medication."

The right answer is 1:
Erythropoietin is a substitution treatment for anemia in chronic renal failure, it will not cure the anemia.
Erythropoietin is a hormone released by kidneys, its role is to increase the production of red blood cells.
In chronic renal failure, the activity of the kidneys is decreased, so the erythropoietin released by the kidneys are too low, it could not handle by itself the production of red blood cells, that's why it need substitution treatment by erythropoietin supplement. But it will not "cure" the anemia because it is not a cause treatment (treatment of the real problem which is the renal failure).