The nurse is caring for a patient with urolithiasis who is scheduled for a extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. The nurse would explain to the patient that:

Explanation

• Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is a noninvasive procedure that involves administering shock waves, targeted at the kidney stone. The shock wave will breakup the kidney stone so that it can be excreted in the urine. The goal is that the shards are small enough not to cause a urethral obstruction

• The patient is anesthetized so that he or she remains completely still during the procedure

• The procedure is relatively painless

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