A nurse is making a home visit and discovers that a patient's wound infection has gotten worse. The nurse cleans and redresses the wound. What should the nurse do next?

Question

a. Notify the health care provider of the findings before leaving the home.
b. Ask the home health facility nurse manager to contact the health care provider.
c. Document the findings and confirm with the patient the date of the next home visit.
d. Tell the patient that the health care provider will be notified before the next home visit.

Answer 1

ANS: A
The nurse should notify the health care provider before leaving the home. Regardless of the setting, an enriching professional environment is one in which staff members respect one another's ideas, share information, and keep one another informed. The manager should avoid taking care of problems for staff. The staff nurse needs to learn how to professionally communicate with other members of the health care team and demonstrate interprofessional collaboration.