The nurse is caring for a postoperative client who has a saline lock and minimal urine in the drainage bag, who appears anxious and restless. The nurse notices that the client's hands are cool and moist, with prolonged capillary refill. Which action should the nurse take?

Rationale for Correct Choices:

• Extrapyramidal reaction: The client exhibits muscle stiffness, constant leg shaking, forward-backward rocking, and abnormal head positioning, all of which are hallmark signs of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) often caused by antipsychotic medications like haloperidol and chlorpromazine. Recognizing EPS early prevents further complications such as severe dystonia or Parkinsonism.

• Initiate one-on-one observation: Continuous observation is essential to ensure client safety, particularly due to agitation, abnormal movements, and risk of injury from dystonia or uncontrolled motor activity, which can be exacerbated in psychiatric patients on antipsychotics.

• Education on administration and side effects of haloperidol: Teaching the client and caregivers about haloperidol’s potential side effects, including EPS, akathisia, and tardive dyskinesia, enhances adherence, promotes early reporting of adverse effects, and supports safe medication management.

• Gait and muscle strength: Monitoring gait and muscle strength allows the nurse to track the severity and progression of extrapyramidal symptoms, assess mobility limitations, and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions like anticholinergic medications or dosage adjustments.

• Improvement in symptoms: Observing improvement in EPS or agitation provides measurable evidence that interventions are effective, guiding ongoing care and any necessary modifications to therapy or dosing.

Rationale for Incorrect Choices:

• Mucositis: Mucositis involves inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes, typically related to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and is not consistent with this client’s current presentation of abnormal motor activity and psychiatric symptoms.

•Hypertensive crisis: The client’s blood pressure is within a normal to mildly elevated range, and there are no signs of acute end-organ damage, so hypertensive crisis is unlikely in this scenario.

• Parkinson’s Disease: Parkinsonism is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by resting tremor, bradykinesia, and rigidity, not acute onset EPS triggered by antipsychotic use in a young adult with schizophrenia.

• Institute oral hygiene to prevent candidiasis: Oral hygiene is generally important but does not address the acute neurological side effects of antipsychotic medications, making it nonessential for EPS management.

• Immediate dietician consult: While nutrition is important, it is not immediately relevant for extrapyramidal symptoms and does not address the urgent motor complications caused by antipsychotics.

• Administer antihypertensive: The client’s blood pressure is not critically elevated, and there are no indications of hypertensive emergency, so antihypertensive therapy is unnecessary.

• Blood pressure: Monitoring blood pressure is routine but not directly related to tracking extrapyramidal symptoms or response to antipsychotic therapy in this case.

• Swallowing: While dysphagia can occur in severe EPS, this client does not currently present with swallowing difficulties, making it less critical to monitor compared to gait and muscle strength.

• Nephrotic syndrome: The child’s rapid weight gain over two months, generalized edema, fatigue with minimal activity, and laboratory findings showing significant proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, and mild hematuria strongly suggest nephrotic syndrome, which involves increased glomerular permeability and fluid retention.

• Administering intravenous albumin increases plasma oncotic pressure, helping to pull interstitial fluid back into the intravascular space, thereby reducing edema, improving circulatory volume, and supporting perfusion in a child with hypoalbuminemia.

• Provide a low-salt diet: Implementing a low-sodium diet is essential to help manage fluid retention associated with nephrotic syndrome, as excessive sodium intake worsens edema and may contribute to hypertension and further fluid overload.

• Daily weight: Monitoring daily weight provides a sensitive measure of fluid status and the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions, as even small changes in weight can reflect shifts in edema or fluid accumulation.

• Abdominal girth: Measuring abdominal girth regularly allows the nurse to track ascites and fluid accumulation in the peritoneal cavity, which is a common complication of nephrotic syndrome and can indicate worsening disease or inadequate response to therapy.

Rationale for Incorrect Choices:

• Type 1 diabetes: Type 1 diabetes typically presents with hyperglycemia, polyuria, polydipsia, and weight loss, none of which are observed in this child. The presence of edema and proteinuria is not consistent with diabetes.

• Hemolytic uremic syndrome: HUS is characterized by acute kidney injury, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia. This child does not exhibit hemolysis, platelet abnormalities, or acute renal failure, making HUS unlikely.

• Wilms' tumor: Wilms’ tumor usually presents as a palpable abdominal mass, sometimes with hematuria, but it does not cause generalized edema, proteinuria, or hypoalbuminemia, which are prominent in this child.

• Place the child on strict bed rest: Strict bed rest is unnecessary unless the child’s symptoms are severe. Children with nephrotic syndrome can maintain normal activity levels while under medical monitoring.

• Prepare the child for emergency surgery: Nephrotic syndrome is a medical condition requiring pharmacologic and dietary management, not surgical intervention; surgery is not indicated in this scenario.

• Prepare an insulin drip: There is no evidence of hyperglycemia, ketosis, or diabetes in this child, so initiating an insulin drip would be inappropriate and unrelated to the presenting condition.

• Lymph node size: Lymphadenopathy is not a feature of nephrotic syndrome, and changes in lymph node size would not provide useful information for monitoring this child’s condition or treatment response.

• Ketones: Ketone monitoring is relevant for patients with diabetes or fasting states but is not necessary in nephrotic syndrome, as ketonuria is not a feature of this disease.

• Bladder volume: Bladder monitoring is not required because there is no evidence of urinary obstruction or retention; fluid balance is better assessed by weight and urine output rather than bladder volume.