After a stroke involving the right hemisphere, which alteration in function should the nurse expect?

In a stroke involving the right hemisphere of the brain, one of the expected alterations in function is the inability to recognize familiar faces, a condition known as prosopagnosia. The right hemisphere is primarily responsible for the nonverbal and visual aspects of perception, which includes recognizing faces and interpreting emotional cues. When this area is impacted by a stroke, it can lead to significant deficits in recognizing individuals, including family members.

This phenomenon highlights the specialization of the hemispheres in the brain, where the right hemisphere is more involved in holistic and spatial processing, while the left hemisphere is often associated with language and analytical functions. Therefore, the alteration in function observed in a patient after a right-sided stroke would typically include difficulties with visual recognition rather than language difficulties, paralysis on the right side, or reading issues which may be more directly related to left hemisphere involvement.