The nurse is completing a preoperative assessment on a patient. Which reason would the nurse prioritize as the most important for this assessment?

Question

1. The data provide information and guidance for preoperative and postoperative instruction.
2. The assessment data can be used to help plan for a future residential care institution.
3. The data provide information for the health care provider's history and physical.
4. The potential risks are identified for the family to comfort them in case there is a bad outcome from surgery.

Answer 1

1
Rationale 1: The assessment data can be utilized to help guide the patient's preoperative and postoperative teaching. The assessment also provides information regarding potential health risks perioperatively as well as baseline data for the patient's physical and functional abilities during recovery
Rationale 2: The assessment data can be utilized at a residential care facility, but that is not the primary reason for completing assessment data.
Rationale 3: A health care provider's history and physical may utilize some data from the nursing assessment, but the health care provider must also complete his or her own history/physical.
Rationale 4: Potential risks can be identified, but they are not done so for the comfort of the family.