The nurse admits a client and 1 hour later prepares medication for the client. What is the nurse's priority assessment before the initial administration of medication?
1. Diet history
2. Drug tolerance
3. Allergy history
4. Surgical history
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3. To prevent client injury, the nurse interviews the client about allergies including food and medication before administering any medication. If the client admits to drug or food allergies, the nurse probes the client for additional information about the allergy to determine the nature of the reaction.
1. Diet history is a reasonable assessment because malnutrition increases the risk of client injury from medications that are protein bound or complications from nutri-tionally related problems such as hypokalemia, hypoxia, or anemia. Client injury from one of these problems is less likely to be as swift or acute a reaction as a hyper-sensitivity reaction; thus, it is not the nurse's priority.
2. Drug tolerance is a reasonable assessment if the client is receiving pain medication or another agent where tolerance potentially develops.
4. Surgical history is the lowest priority assessment for this client; however, the nurse gathers information about the client's surgical history for the admission assessment to complete the client profile.
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