Question

A patient has just given birth to a baby boy with a cleft palate. The nurse will review the patient's medication history with special emphasis on drugs taken during which period?

1) Before she became pregnant
2) During the first trimester
3) During the second trimester
4) During the third trimester

Answer 1

The nurse should review the patient's medication history for drugs taken during the first trimester because this is the period when the hard palate develops, and the risk for teratogenic effects is the highest.

Step-by-step explanation:

When reviewing a medication history for a patient who has given birth to a baby with a cleft palate, the nurse should focus on drugs taken during the first trimester of pregnancy. This is because the development of the hard palate, which separates the nasal cavity from the oral cavity, occurs early in embryonic development.

The failure of the palatine bones and the palatine processes of the maxilla bones to fuse at the midline, leading to a cleft palate, generally happens during the fifth and sixth weeks post-conception, which is within the first trimester. Therefore, any teratogenic substances ingested during this critical period of organogenesis could contribute to the formation of anomalies such as a cleft palate.