A nurse is assigning client care to an RN and an LVN.
Which of the following tasks must they assign to an RN only and NOT to an LVN? All parts of the answer must be restricted to an RN only.

Choice A rationale

Refusing to administer the medication without further investigation could jeopardize the client's timely treatment. While safety is paramount, the nurse's initial action should be to gather more information rather than outright refusal, which could delay necessary care.

Choice B rationale

Administering a medication that appears to be abnormally high without verifying the order is unsafe and could lead to serious adverse effects for the client. Nurses have a professional responsibility to question orders that seem incorrect or potentially harmful.

Choice C rationale

Documenting concerns is an important step in the process, but it is not the best *next* action. While documentation is crucial for legal and communication purposes, directly addressing the potentially erroneous order with the prescriber takes precedence to ensure patient safety.

Choice D rationale

Querying the physician about the order is the most appropriate immediate action. This allows the nurse to clarify the dosage, route, and rationale for the high dose. It opens a dialogue with the prescriber to confirm the order's accuracy or identify a potential error, directly addressing the safety concern.

Choice A rationale

Battery in a legal context refers to the intentional touching of another person without their consent. Inserting a urinary catheter into a client's urethra after the client has explicitly refused the procedure constitutes a non-consensual physical contact. Even if the procedure was ordered, the lack of consent transforms the act into battery, especially if it results in injury to the client.

Choice B rationale

Dereliction of duty, a component of negligence, involves a failure to meet the accepted standard of care. While inserting a catheter against a client's will could be seen as a failure in ethical and potentially professional standards, the specific tort of battery focuses on the unauthorized physical contact, regardless of whether it was done negligently or with intent to harm (though intent to touch without consent is present).

Choice C rationale

Assault involves an intentional act that creates a reasonable apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive contact. While the client may have felt threatened or apprehensive when the nurse proceeded despite their refusal, the actual insertion of the catheter and subsequent injury constitute battery, as physical contact occurred. Assault precedes battery; battery is the actual physical contact.

Choice D rationale

Invasion of privacy pertains to the wrongful intrusion into a person's private affairs or the public disclosure of private information. While a client has a right to privacy regarding their body and medical procedures, the act of physically inserting a catheter against their will, leading to injury, primarily constitutes a physical violation and lack of consent, which falls under the definition of battery.