A nurse is caring for a client recovering from abdominal surgery. The client reports pain at a level of 8 on a 0-10 scale two hours after receiving their most recent dose of prescribed pain medication. What is the best action for the nurse to take?
Assess the pain further and notify the healthcare provider about the unrelieved pain.
Administer an additional dose of the prescribed pain medication to address the client’s report of pain.
Wait until the next scheduled dose of pain medication to manage the pain.
Encourage the client to reposition and use distraction techniques to alleviate pain.
The correct answer is to perform a focused assessment of the pain and notify the provider. Although other answers may include potentially correct actions, it is critical for the nurse to assess the characteristics, location, and quality of the pain to determine if it is expected postoperative discomfort or if there may be complications such as infection or a retained surgical issue. Simply administering another dose of pain medication without investigating further could overlook serious issues. Positioning and nonmedicinal interventions are useful but should not replace the need for assessment and appropriate escalation for unrelieved severe pain.
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Physiological Integrity
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