A prescriber has written an order for a pain medication: Drug X 50 mg PO every 6 hours. The patient has had right arm pain since surgery, rated as a 7 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the greatest pain
The half-life for the drug is approximately 12 hours. The nurse should first take which action? a. The nurse should question the dose.
b. The nurse should question the need for the drug.
c. The nurse should question the frequency of the medication.
d. The nurse should administer the medication as ordered.
C
The nurse should ask the prescriber about the frequency of the medication, because the half-life is long, therefore fewer doses would be required.
The drug being administered is not specified, therefore the nurse can't question the dose as it re-lates to drug half-life.
The nurse already knows that the patient is having postoperative pain, therefore the medication is appropriate.
The order should be questioned and the medication withheld until clarification is obtained re-garding the frequency of the medication.
DIF: Cognitive Level: Application REF: p. 42
TOP: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: NCLEX Client Needs Category: Physiological Integrity: Reduction of Risk Potential
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