The nurse is monitoring a pregnant patient who is receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate for eclampsia. During the last assessment, the nurse was unable to elicit a patellar reflex. What should the nurse do?
A) Check fetal heart rate.
B) Measure blood pressure.
C) Stop the current infusion.
D) Increase the infusion rate.
C
Feedback:
When infusing magnesium sulfate, the nurse should stop the infusion if deep tendon reflexes are absent. Checking the fetal heart rate and measuring blood pressure could waste time and provide the patient with more magnesium sulfate. The infusion rate should not be increased because this could lead to cardiac dysrhythmias and respiratory depression.
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