A patient recently had surgery, for which a local anesthetic was used. The patient's speech becomes slurred. The nurse's first action would be to

Question

a. recognize that the patient is experiencing postoperative anxiety.
b. determine whether the patient drank a large amount of alcohol before the surgery.
c. check vital signs and ensure proper placement of an intravenous line.
d. recognize that this frequently occurs in patients who receive large doses of local anesthetics.

Answer 1

C
The nurse should monitor the patient's blood pressure for possible hypotension, the pulse rate for bradycardia, and the respiratory rate for respiratory depression, all of which indicate a possible toxic reaction to the anesthetic. The nurse should ensure proper placement of an intravenous line for administration of an antagonist if toxicity has occurred.
Postoperative anxiety would not be the most likely cause of the patient's slurred speech.
Whether a patient drank a large amount of alcohol would be assessed preoperatively in the nurs-ing history, not postoperatively. If he had, the surgery would have been postponed.
Simply recognizing that this event occurs frequently in patients who receive large doses of local anesthetics is not an appropriate response by the nurse.