A newly licensed nurse is reviewing the role of a nurse in disaster planning. Which of the following is an activity a nurse should engage in disaster preparation?

A. Explaining the steps for a 24-hr urine collection: Teaching and explaining procedures require nursing knowledge and judgment, which are outside the scope of practice for assistive personnel.

B. Interpreting blood glucose values: Interpretation of lab results requires clinical judgment and assessment skills, which must be performed by a licensed nurse.

C. Performing postmortem care: Postmortem care is a noninvasive task that focuses on preparing the body, maintaining dignity, and basic hygiene. This task is within the scope of practice for assistive personnel.

D. Assisting with low-carbohydrate diet selections: Assisting with dietary teaching or making food choices involves clinical guidance and education, which must be performed by a licensed nurse or dietitian rather than an assistive personnel.

• Temperature: A temperature of 37.4°C is within normal limits and does not specifically support any of the three conditions. While low-grade fever may be seen in appendicitis or Crohn’s flares, the absence of fever at this time limits its diagnostic value in this case.
• Vomiting: Vomiting in intussusception is common and often non-bilious in early stages, aligning with the child's light-colored emesis. Vomiting also occurs in appendicitis, especially in the early stages. However, it is not a prominent or early symptom of Crohn’s disease unless obstruction is present.
• Pain rating: Severe, intermittent abdominal pain where the child draws their knees to the chest and then returns to normal behavior is a classic symptom of intussusception. Neither Crohn’s disease nor appendicitis typically presents with this pattern, appendicitis pain is usually constant and worsening, while Crohn’s pain is chronic and non-episodic.
• Abdominal findings: A distended abdomen with hypoactive bowel sounds and a palpable sausage-shaped mass in the right upper quadrant is highly indicative of intussusception. These findings are not characteristic of appendicitis, which usually involves RLQ pain, or Crohn’s, which rarely presents with a discrete palpable mass.
• Stool: The presence of blood and mucus in the stool ("currant jelly stool") is strongly associated with intussusception and may also occur in Crohn’s disease during flares due to colonic inflammation. Appendicitis does not typically cause bloody or mucoid stools, making this finding inconsistent with that diagnosis.