Precise wound documentation contributes to which of the below elements? (Select all that apply)

Choice A reason: Ensuring the patient receives all necessary information is the physician’s responsibility, not the nurse’s. Informed consent involves explaining risks, benefits, and alternatives, impacting patient autonomy. The nurse’s role is to witness the consent, verifying the patient’s understanding and voluntary agreement, ensuring ethical and legal standards are met without delivering medical details.

Choice B reason: Assessing competence is typically the physician’s role, as it requires evaluating cognitive capacity, influenced by neurological or psychological factors. Nurses may observe mental status but do not formally determine competence. Witnessing consent ensures the patient’s voluntary agreement, aligning with ethical principles of autonomy, making this a secondary nursing responsibility.

Choice C reason: Giving a complete procedure description is the surgeon’s duty, as it requires detailed medical knowledge of risks and outcomes. Nurses reinforce education but focus on witnessing consent to confirm voluntary agreement. Providing medical details exceeds the nurse’s scope, potentially causing confusion or miscommunication, impacting the patient’s informed decision-making process.

Choice D reason: Witnessing informed consent is the nurse’s primary role, verifying the patient received and understood information from the physician and consents voluntarily. This upholds autonomy, ensuring the patient’s decision aligns with their values. The nurse’s signature confirms the process, protecting legal and ethical standards without requiring them to provide medical explanations.

Choice E reason: Researching non-surgical alternatives is outside the nurse’s scope during preoperative teaching. Physicians discuss treatment options, considering cancer stage and biology. Nurses focus on witnessing consent, ensuring the patient’s understanding and voluntary agreement, supporting autonomy without delving into medical research, which could delay or confuse the consent process.

Choice A reason: Instructing repositioning every 2 hours is appropriate but not the first action for a progressing ulcer, seen on video. Verification via in-person assessment ensures accuracy, as video may not capture depth or infection. A home visit confirms the stage, guiding intervention, per pressure ulcer management protocols.

Choice B reason: Asking the daughter to take pictures is unreliable, as non-professional images may lack clarity or accuracy. A nurse’s in-person assessment is needed to evaluate ulcer progression, ensuring proper staging and treatment, avoiding misdiagnosis, per telehealth and wound care standards.

Choice C reason: Contacting the provider for a hydrocolloid dressing is premature without verifying the ulcer’s stage in person. Stage 1 ulcers typically require pressure relief, not advanced dressings. A home visit confirms progression, ensuring appropriate intervention, per evidence-based wound care guidelines.

Choice D reason: Making a home visit to verify ulcer changes is the priority, as video may not fully capture progression (e.g., depth, infection). In-person assessment confirms the stage, guiding accurate treatment like dressings or repositioning, preventing deterioration, per telehealth wound assessment and pressure injury protocols.