The nurse is caring for a client with a broken femur. The client is at higher risk for which complication due to this specific bone fracture?

Choice A reason: Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that affects the large intestine but does not typically involve systemic inflammation or significant immunosuppression. While uncomfortable, it does not predispose a relatively young patient to the profound infectious vulnerability required for the development of septic shock.

Choice B reason: Chemotherapy agents frequently induce myelosuppression, specifically neutropenia, which severely compromises the host's immune surveillance and response. An older adult with a diminished absolute neutrophil count is highly susceptible to opportunistic infections that can rapidly escalate into systemic inflammatory response syndrome and subsequent septic shock.

Choice C reason: Being 20% above ideal body weight indicates overweight status or mild obesity. While chronic obesity can be associated with low-grade systemic inflammation and long-term metabolic risks, it is not an independent, acute risk factor for sepsis that carries the same weight as active pharmacological immunosuppression.

Choice D reason: While advanced age is a risk factor for infection, the use of beta blockers for hypertension does not inherently suppress the immune system. Although these medications might mask compensatory tachycardia during the early stages of shock, they do not increase the physiological risk of developing an infection.

Choice A reason: This response is dismissive, impatient, and judgmental. It fails to validate the patient’s experience and ignores the fact that phantom limb pain is a documented neurological phenomenon that requires appropriate clinical management rather than just "acceptance" by the patient.

Choice B reason: Phantom limb pain is a very real sensation experienced by many amputees due to the reorganization of the somatosensory cortex. The nurse's first action should always be a thorough assessment. Asking the patient to describe the pain helps determine its quality, intensity, and appropriate pharmacological interventions.

Choice C reason: While non-pharmacological interventions like imagery or mirror therapy can be helpful in managing phantom limb pain, the nurse must first perform a complete assessment of the pain. Offering a solution before fully understanding the nature of the pain is premature and skips a vital step.

Choice D reason: This statement is medically incorrect and highly unprofessional. Telling a patient their pain "does not exist" is gaslighting. Phantom limb pain is a complex physiological and psychological condition caused by genuine nerve signaling in the brain and spinal cord, regardless of the limb's absence.