Following a head injury, an unconscious 32-year-old patient is admitted to the emergency department (ED). The patient's spouse and children stay at the patient's side and constantly ask about the treatment being given. What action is best for the nurse to take?

a. Ask the family to stay in the waiting room until the initial assessment is completed.
b. Allow the family to stay with the patient and briefly explain all procedures to them.
c. Call the family's pastor or spiritual advisor to support them while initial care is given.
d. Refer the family members to the hospital counseling service to deal with their anxiety.


Answer: b. Allow the family to stay with the patient and briefly explain all procedures to them.

Nursing

You might also like to view...

A nurse working with an after-school program is concerned about the lack of health literacy in the students' parents. What action would best address this need?

A. Conduct a monthly health-related seminar for parents. B. Investigate grants or other funding for a computer bank. C. Invite parents to healthy cooking demonstrations. D. Provide brochures on a variety of health problems.

Nursing

A client is consulting a certified nurse–midwife because she is hoping for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) for this pregnancy. Which statement indicates that the client requires more in-formation about VBAC?

1. "I can try a vaginal birth because my uterine incision is a low segment transverse incision." 2. "The vertical scar on my skin doesn't mean that the scar on my uterus goes in the same direc-tion." 3. "There is about a 90% chance of giving birth vaginally after a cesarean." 4. "Because my hospital has a surgery staff on call 24 hours a day, I can try a VBAC there."

Nursing

The nurse is aware that the situation that would warrant administration of iron supplements to a client with pernicious anemia is

a. poor appetite. b. increase in the total erythrocyte count in the peripheral circulation. c. discrepancy between hemoglobin and erythrocyte levels. d. paresthesia in the fingers.

Nursing

To identify manifestations of rejection following kidney transplant, the nurse would instruct a client going home to monitor for

a. fatigue. b. hypothermia. c. recurrent nausea. d. weight gain.

Nursing