The nurse, caring for a patient recovering from surgery, knows that which intervention will provide the most pain relief for the patient?
1. Offer pain relief before the patient complains of pain.
2. Wait until the patient can describe the pain specifically.
3. Assess the pain level every 4 hours around the clock.
4. Allow the patient to "sleep off" the anesthesia, and then offer pain medication.
1
Rationale 1: Anticipating a patient's pain will ensure a more manageable pain experience than will waiting until the patient complains of pain.
Rationale 2: Pain management needs to be implemented before the patient can describe specific postoperative pain, or "sleeping off" anesthesia.
Rationale 3: The patient should not be awakened every 4 hours to assess pain unless there are other significant nonverbal signs during sleep that indicate the patient is in pain. These can include grimacing, moaning, thrashing, or guarding of a surgical site.
Rationale 4: Pain management should be implemented prior to the patient "sleeping off" anesthesia.
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