Complete the following sentence: Given the patient’s elevated blood pressure and inconsistent medication adherence, the nurse should prioritize (intervention) to help improve blood pressure control and patient outcome

Choice A reason: Acetaminophen reduces fever, but 101.2°F isn’t critical in sepsis, where hypotension (90/56 mmHg) signals shock. Addressing fever alone ignores systemic instability, delaying urgent intervention for a deteriorating patient needing comprehensive management.

Choice B reason: Hypotension (90/56 mmHg) and tachypnea (34 breaths/min) indicate septic shock, requiring immediate escalation. Notifying the provider ensures rapid fluid resuscitation and vasopressors, critical in gram-negative sepsis to reverse hypoperfusion and prevent organ failure.

Choice C reason: Pulse oximetry assesses oxygenation, useful in sepsis with tachypnea. However, hypotension is more immediately life-threatening, prioritizing provider notification for systemic treatment over a single parameter check that delays broader stabilization efforts.

Choice D reason: IV antibiotics target sepsis’s cause, but a scheduled dose doesn’t address acute hypotension urgency. Provider notification supersedes routine administration, as shock requires fluids and pressors now, not just infection control, to save the patient.

Choice A reason: Pulmonary edema involves fluid in alveoli, often from heart failure, not directly linked to pancytopenia. Low blood cell counts don’t cause fluid overload; this complication arises from cardiac or renal dysfunction, making it less relevant to pancytopenia’s hematologic deficits.

Choice B reason: Bleeding risk increases with pancytopenia due to thrombocytopenia, reducing platelet counts below 150,000/µL. Impaired clotting leads to spontaneous hemorrhage, such as petechiae or mucosal bleeding, a direct and common consequence of bone marrow suppression in this condition.

Choice C reason: Neurogenic shock results from spinal injury or autonomic dysfunction, causing vasodilation and hypotension. Pancytopenia affects blood cells, not neural regulation, so this complication isn’t a primary risk unless unrelated trauma or systemic failure occurs.

Choice D reason: Infection risk rises with pancytopenia from leukopenia, lowering white blood cells below 4,000/µL. Neutropenia impairs immune defense, increasing susceptibility to bacterial, fungal, or viral infections, a frequent and severe complication requiring vigilant monitoring in these patients.

Choice E reason: Seizures stem from neurologic or metabolic disturbances, like hypoglycemia, not pancytopenia. Reduced blood cells don’t directly affect brain excitability or seizure threshold, making this an unlikely complication unless secondary to infection or bleeding.