An adult male who is admitted to the mental health clinic is alert and oriented to person, place, time, and situation. His affect is blunted, his mood dysphoric, and the nurse identifies his responses as tangential with a paranoid theme when he states, “I have a chip inside my head that is speaking to me.” Based on these assessment findings, which nursing problem is best to include in this client’s initial plan of care?

Struggling to breathe, an older adult client with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is admitted through the emergency department. The client is anxious and considering mechanical ventilation when the spouse interrupts the nurse and hands the nurse a copy of the client’s living will. Which action is most important for the nurse to take?

On the second postoperative day, a client reports increasing abdominal pain. Assessment findings include a distended abdomen with absent bowel sounds. Which intervention should the nurse anticipate implementing?

During a home visit, the nurse assesses the skin of a client with eczema who reports that an exacerbation of symptoms has occurred during the last week. Which information is most useful in determining the possible cause of the symptoms?

An older adult male client with schizophrenia is found smearing feces on the bathroom walls of the chronic mental health unit where he resides. Which action should the nurse implement?

A client with heart failure is receiving intravenous fluids at 125 mL/hour. The nurse observes an increase in jugular vein distention (JVD) and pedal edema. Which additional assessment should the nurse make before reporting to the healthcare provider?

Following admission for a cardiac catheterization, the nurse is providing discharge teaching to the parents of a 2-year-old toddler with Tetralogy of Fallot. Which instruction should the nurse give the parents if their child becomes pale, cool, and lethargic?

A client is admitted to the hospital for treatment of a simple goiter, and levothyroxine sodium is prescribed. Which symptoms indicate to the nurse that the prescribed dosage is too high for this client?

The healthcare provider writes several prescriptions for a client diagnosed with hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) that include a combination of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Which intervention should the nurse implement first?

The palliative care nurse is admitting a client who has metastatic bone cancer and is unable to eat or drink without immediate nausea and vomiting. The client is complaining of pain at 9 on a 0 to 10 pain scale, and the vital signs are: heart rate 99 beats/minute, respirations 38 breaths/minute, oxygen saturation 95%, and blood pressure 110/80 mm Hg. Which intervention should the nurse implement?

The nurse includes the problem of “Risk for infection” in the plan of care for a client with myelosuppression. Which laboratory value provides the greatest support for this nursing problem?

Reference Range: Hemoglobin (Hgb) [14 to 18 g/dL (8.69 to 11.17 mmol/L)], Hematocrit (Hct) [42% to 52% (0.42 to 0.52 volume fraction)], Red Blood Cell Count (RBC) [4.2 to 5.4 x 10⁶/µL (4.2 to 5.4 x 10¹²/L)], White Blood Cell (WBC) [5,000 to 10,000/mm³ (5 to 10 x 10⁹/L)].