The nurse is caring for a patient who is one day post-mastectomy and notes that she is sobbing and gasping for breath. What should the nurse do first?

Choice A reason: Cool, dry skin is not typically associated with a panic attack, which often involves symptoms like sweating due to the fight-or-flight response.

Choice B reason: Chest pain is a common symptom of panic attacks, often leading individuals to believe they are having a heart attack.

Choice C reason: Pallor, or paleness, may occur during a panic attack, but it is not as common as other symptoms like chest pain.

Choice D reason: Bradycardia, or slow heart rate, is not characteristic of a panic attack; tachycardia, or fast heart rate, is more common.

Choice A reason: Fecal impaction typically presents with the inability to pass stool and may not be associated with the absence of bowel sounds.

Choice B reason: Incisional infection is usually indicated by localized redness, warmth, and possible discharge, not necessarily by the absence of bowel sounds or flatus.

Choice C reason: Health care-associated Clostridium difficile often presents with diarrhea, not the absence of bowel sounds or flatus.

Choice D reason: Paralytic ileus is characterized by impaired intestinal motility and transit, absence of the passage of flatus, diminished bowel sounds, abdominal distension, and intestinal dilatation, fitting the symptoms described.