Nursing assistive personnel (NAP) are part of the patient care team. Which aspect of obtaining health information can the nurse delegate to NAP?

Question

a. Auscultate apical pulse of a patient with acute angina.
b. Take vital signs of a patient who might be discharged.
c. Complete lung assessment of a patient with pneumonia.
d. Clarify effects of antihypertensive therapy for a patient.

Answer 1

B
The task of taking vital signs of a patient who may be discharged may be delegated to NAP. The patient with acute angina needs a nursing assessment to avert complications of impaired coronary artery blood flow. The nurse evaluates the patient to complete a nursing assessment and im-plement indicated therapy without delay. The nurse assesses the patient with pneumonia to aus-cultate breath sounds and evaluate the airway and oxygenation because the lungs fill with infec-tious exudate, impairing ventilation and increasing the risk of airway occlusion. The nurse eva-luates the patient's antihypertensive therapy as part of the patient's plan of care and the nursing process.