A nurse is caring for a patient that is experiencing status epilepticus. Which of the following prescribed medications should the nurse anticipate to administer?

A. Poor impulse control. A stroke in the right cerebral hemisphere affects judgment, attention, and impulse control. Clients often display poor safety awareness, impulsivity, and difficulty recognizing deficits (anosognosia), increasing the risk of falls and injury.
B. Unable to discriminate words and letters. This symptom is associated with left hemisphere strokes, which affect language centers such as Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Clients with left-sided strokes may experience aphasia, difficulty reading, and problems with word recognition, which are not typical of right hemisphere strokes.
C. Motor retardation. Right hemisphere strokes typically cause left-sided hemiparesis or hemiplegia but do not necessarily result in motor retardation (slowness of movement). Instead, lack of awareness of deficits is more common, leading to neglect of the affected side.
D. Deficits in the right visual field. Right hemisphere strokes cause left visual field deficits (left homonymous hemianopia). Right visual field deficits occur with left hemisphere strokes. Clients may also experience left-sided neglect, where they fail to recognize or respond to stimuli on their affected side.

A. Document the time the seizure began. While timing the seizure is important to assess its duration and guide treatment, airway protection is the priority. The nurse should first position the client’s head to the side to prevent airway obstruction before documenting seizure onset.
B. Turn the client’s head to the side. Turning the client’s head to the side helps prevent aspiration of saliva or vomit and promotes airway patency. During a tonic-clonic seizure, muscle contractions can cause excessive oral secretions, increasing the risk of airway obstruction. Placing the client in a side-lying position is the first priority to maintain breathing and reduce aspiration risk.
C. Check the client's motor strength. Assessing motor strength should be done after the seizure ends, as the client will have involuntary muscle contractions during the seizure. Attempting to check motor function during the seizure could lead to injury to both the client and the nurse.
D. Loosen the clothing around the client's waist. Loosening tight clothing (especially around the neck) can help with breathing, but it is not the first priority. Positioning the client’s head to the side is more critical to prevent airway obstruction before adjusting clothing.