Chapter 14: Implementing

One hour after receiving pain medication, a postoperative client reports intense pain. What is the nurse's appropriate first action?

Assess the client to determine the cause of the pain.

The nurse must give instructions before discharge to a 13-year-old in a sickle cell crisis. Three of the client's friends from school are visiting. In order to assure effective instruction, what should the nurse plan to do?

Delay the instruction until the visitors leave.

A nurse is preparing to educate a client about self-care after a cataract surgery. Which of the following would the nurse do first?

Determine the client's willingness to follow the regimen.

The nurse has prepared to educate a client about caring for a new colostomy. When the nurse begins the instruction, the client states, "I am not ready to deal with this now. I am feeling overwhelmed." What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Discontinue the education and attempt at another time.

A client tells the nurse, "My doctor has told me I have to have a blood transfusion, but I am a Jehovah's Witness and I can't take one." What is the nurse's most appropriate intervention?

Discuss possible alternatives to a blood transfusion with the physician.

Which of the following is a nursing intervention that facilitates life span care?

Educate family members about normal growth and development patterns.

The client is in a rehabilitation unit after a traumatic brain injury. In order to facilitate the client's recovery, what would be the nurse's most appropriate intervention?

Encourage the client to provide as much self-care as possible.

During morning report, the night nurse tells the oncoming nurse that the client has been medicated for pain and is resting comfortably. Thirty minutes later, the client calls and requests pain medication. What is the nurse's appropriate first action?

Go to the client and assess the client's pain.

The RN is orienting a new nurse who suggests a different way to perform a procedure. What is the RN's most appropriate reaction?

Listen to the new nurse's suggestion and evaluate its usefulness.

The nurse is coordinating care for the client with continuous pulse oximetry who requires pharyngeal suctioning. Which staff member should the nurse avoid delegating the task of suctioning?

Nursing assistant who is a nursing student

A client recovering after an appendectomy is reporting pain. The nurse administers the ordered pain medication and assists the client to splint the incision. What is the nurse's next step in implementing the plan of care?

Reassess the client to determine the effectiveness of the interventions.

The nurse is caring for a 10-year-old client who is newly diagnosed with a seizure disorder. What variable would alter the nurse's plan for educating the client and parent?

The client has a 12-year-old sister who has been treated for a seizure disorder for 3 years.

The registered nurse is working with an unlicensed assistive personnel. Which client should the nurse not delegate to the unlicensed assistive personnel?

The client with continuous pulse oximetry who requires pharyngeal suctioning.

A nursing student received a report on his assigned clients for the clinical day. Which client should the student nurse plan to assess first?

an asthma client who reports shortness of breath with a respiratory rate of 26 bpm

The nurse ascertains that a client is failing to follow the plan of care that was collaboratively developed. Further investigation determines that the plan of care is not appropriate for this client. What is the nurse's next step in correcting this problem?

Make changes in the plan of care based upon assessment data.

The nurse is discussing diabetes mellitus with the family members of a client recently diagnosed. In order to promote the health of the family members, what would be the most important information for the nurse to include?

Risk factors and prevention of diabetes mellitus

As the nurse bathes a patient, she notes his skin color and integrity, his ability to respond to simple directions, and his muscle tone. Which statement best explains why such continuing data collection is so important?

It enables the nurse to revise the care plan appropriately.

The nurse has instructed the client in self-catheterization, but the client is unable to perform a return demonstration. What is the nurse's most appropriate plan of action?

Reassess the appropriateness of the method of instruction.

The nursing supervisor visits the emergency department and informs the department manager that tornado victims are expected to arrive within the hour. The department manager indicates the department has been slow and requests information regarding possible numbers of victims. The department manager reports supplies were just fully stocked, but two nurses are ill with influenza and were unable to report for their shift. Which resource does the department manager need to organize to respond to the disaster?

Personnel

The nurse is caring for a client who is recovering from a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). When reviewing the client's orders, the nurse notes that one of the physicians wrote orders to ambulate the client while another physician ordered strict bed rest for the client. How would the nurse most appropriately remedy this conflict?

Communicate with the physicians to coordinate their orders.

The nurse has assisted the client to ambulate for the first time. After returning the client to bed, what is the nurse's priority intervention?

Assess the client's response to the ambulation.

The nurse has administered pain medication to a client with a fractured femur. One hour later, the client reports relief of pain. What is the nurse's next action?

Document the effectiveness of the intervention.

When the nurse is administering medication, an older adult client states, "Why does everyone keep asking my name? I've been here for days." How should the nurse respond to the client?

"We ask your name to ensure that we are treating the right client."

Which nursing action can be categorized as a surveillance or monitoring intervention?

auscultating of bilateral lung sounds

The nurse in a Burn Intensive Care Unit (BICU) is caring for a 3-year-old boy who was burned with scalding hot water. He has burns covering 75 percent of his body. His condition is critical but stable. At 1000, the nurse reassesses the client and finds that he is agitated and pulling at his endotracheal tube. What would be the nurse's priority?

ensuring that the endotracheal tube is secure

The primary purpose of nursing implementation is to:

help the client achieve optimal levels of health.

Which of the following nursing interventions is most likely to be allowed within the parameters of a protocol or standing order?

Administering a glycerin suppository to a constipated client who has not responded to oral stool softeners

A nurse suspects that the client with Crohn's disease does not understand the medication regimen or diet modifications required to manage the illness. What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Ask the client to verbalize the medication regimen and diet modifications required.

The surgeon is insisting that a client consent to a hysterectomy. The client says that she will not make a decision without her husband's consent. What is the nurse's best course of action?

Ask the surgeon to wait until the client has had a chance to talk to her husband.

The nurse is caring for a client admitted to the hospital for renal calculi. What is the action to take first?

Assess for bladder distention.

The nurse is preparing a client with a bowel obstruction for emergency surgery. Of the following interventions, which has the highest priority?

Inform the client what to expect after the surgery.

The mother of a pediatric client being discharged confides to the nurse that her husband is abusive and she is afraid to return home. What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Coordinate with the case manager to make a safe discharge plan.

A client on the medical-surgical unit is scheduled for several diagnostic tests. The nurse is concerned that the tests will be too tiring for the client. What would be the nurse's most appropriate action?

Coordinate with the other disciplines to schedule the tests with adequate rest for the client.

A client has a nursing diagnosis of Possible Spiritual Distress. What is the most appropriate nursing intervention?

Discuss spirituality with the client.

The nurse is preparing a client for surgery when the client tells the nurse that he no longer wants to have the surgery. How should the nurse most appropriately respond?

Discuss with the client the reasons for declining surgery.

Priority setting is based on the information obtained during reassessment. Priority setting is used to rank nursing diagnoses. Each of the following contributes to priority setting except which of the following?

Finances of the client

Nurses perform many independent nursing actions when caring for patients. Which action is considered an independent (nurse-initiated) action?

Helping to allay a patient's fears about surgery

The physician has ordered that the client should ambulate 3 times a day. The nurse enters the room to ambulate the client and the client reports pain. What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Medicate the client and wait to ambulate later.

The nurse is assigned a client who had an uneventful colon resection two days ago and requires a dressing change. To which nursing team member should the nurse avoid delegating the dressing change?

Nursing assistant

The nurse is caring for Mr. M., a 48-year-old man with congestive heart failure. The nurse manager informs the nurse that Mr. M. was enrolled in a clinical trial to assess whether a 10-minute walk, 3 times per day, leads to expedited discharge. Which type of evaluation best describes what the researchers are examining?

Outcome evaluation

The nurse is to delegate certain tasks to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). Which of the following tasks can be appropriately assigned to a UAP?

Provide client assistance to the bedside commode.

A client admitted with a wound infection has a temperature of 102.1°F. The nurse administers ordered acetaminophen. How does the nurse plan to reassess the effectiveness of the medication?

Reassess the client's temperature in 1 hour.

A client with hypertension being seen for follow-up care has a blood pressure of 160/100. The client reports following the treatment regimen closely and that blood pressure readings have been elevated for the last 2 weeks. What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Report the findings to the physician for further plans.

The nurse is preparing to give the client a bath early in the morning. The client states, "I prefer to take my bath at night. It helps me sleep." What is the nurse's most appropriate action?

Reschedule the client's bath to the evening shift.

Nursing interventions for the client after prostate surgery include assisting the client to ambulate to the bathroom. The nurse concludes that the client no longer requires assistance. What is the nurse's best action?

Revise the care plan to allow the client to ambulate to the bathroom independently.

Nurse Mayweather is auscultating lung sounds. She notes crackles in the LLL which were not present at the start of the shift. Nurse Mayweather is engaged in which type of nursing intervention?

Surveillance intervention

The nurse is planning instruction on wound care to an adult client. What variables would cause the nurse to alter the education plan? Select all that apply.

The client is blind. The client denies the need for education.

The client is having difficulty breathing. The respiratory rate is 44 and the oxygen saturation is 89% (0.89 L). The nurse raises the head of the bed and applies oxygen at 3 L/min per nasal cannula. How does the nurse determine the effectiveness of the interventions? Select all that apply.

The client's respiratory rate decreases. The client states, "I can breathe easier now." The client's oxygen saturation level increases.

The nurse caring for a client who is recovering after a motor vehicle accident is planning for the client to begin increasing responsibility for self-care. What would be the nurse's most appropriate strategy?

The nurse encourages the client to take a shower instead of receiving a bed bath.

A nurse who is experienced caring only for well babies is assigned to the newborn intensive care nursery (NICU) because of a shortage of nurses in the NICU. The nurse is assigned to an infant on a ventilator who will require blood transfusions during the shift. What is the nurse's most appropriate course of action?

The nurse should inform the charge nurse that she does not have the experience to properly care for this client.