The nurse is caring for a client who has a vertebral fracture. Which intervention does the nurse implement to prevent deterioration of the client's neurologic status?
a. Reorient the client to time, place, and person.
b. Administer the Mini-Mental State Ex-amination.
c. Immobilize the affected portion of the spinal column.
d. Reposition the client every 2 hours.
C
The nurse keeps the client in optimal body alignment at all times, avoiding flexion and extension at the site of vertebral injury, to prevent further cord injury or irritability from bone fragments. A brace, traction, or external fixation may be used for this purpose. The other interventions would not prevent deterioration of the client's neurologic status. Assessments would assist with the recognition of neurologic changes but would not prevent them.
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