Pre-Op
The nurse may serve as a witness to the client's signature on this after the physician has explained the procedure, risks, benefits, & complications, before sedation is given and before surgery is performed.
What is informed consent?
This drug is administered when a client is unresponsive with the lowered respiratory rate with impending respiratory distress/arrest.
What is Narcan or Naloxone?
The patient who is still unconscious post-op should be placed in this position
What is side-lying or lateral?
This classification of medication is often given pre-operatively for its anti-anxiety and sedative effects
What is a benzodiazepine?
This assessment is often done by the surgeon and should always be in a surgical patient's chart
What is a history & physical?
This type of surgery alleviates symptoms but does not cure the patient's condition.
What is palliative surgery?
This activity helps to expand the lungs and maintain adequate air exchange.
What are breathing exercises and incentive spirometry?
These are your priority assessments for any patient in a post-anesthesia care
What is ABC: Airway, Breathing, Circulation Bonus: How do you assess these?
Thrombocytopenia is when this type of cell is below this number...
What are platelets; 150,000 mm3
Bonus: What is a patient with thrombocytopenia at risk for?
This period begins when the client is scheduled for surgery and ends at the time of transfer to the surgical suite.
What is the preoperative period?
A patient who is having abdominal surgery should always receive teaching on this in the pre-op stage.
What is coughing and deep breathing and splinting?
This activity promotes venous return from the lower extremities and prevents venous stasis and DVT (deep vein thrombosis).
What are Antiembolic stockings and elastic stockings, pneumatic compression devices?
This is the most likely cause of post-anesthesia (emergence) delirium
What is decreased oxygenation Bonus: what is another cause?
Post-op pain management often consists of a combination of two or more of these classes of medication
What is -analgesics--NSAID, acetaminophen and opioid?
This condition requires that the nurse stay with the patient, place the client in a supine position with the hips and knees bent, call for help, notify the surgeon, Place warm, sterile NaCl on the wound, and prepare the client for surgery
What is evisceration?
If a patient arrives for scheduled surgery and says this, surgery will likely be cancelled (multiple options)
What is A. I don't have someone to drive me home B. I had a smoothie this morning C. I started antibiotics for a sinus infection yesterday D. I'm having a panic attack because I know I'm going to die today?
This stimulates intestinal motility, enhances lung expansion, mobilizes secretions, promotes venous return, prevents joint rigidity and relieves pressure.
What is early ambulation?
This is a normal effect of anesthesia in the immediate post-op period but must still be addressed
What is hypothermia?
These labs are monitored to assess kidney function
What are BUN and creatinine?
Early ambulation helps reduce these three potential problems after surgery
What is atelectasis/pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis and gas pains and constipation?
If a patient states that she drinks a litre of wine a day and takes st John's warts and melatonin to help her sleep at night, the nurse should do this...
What is notify the anesthesia care provider?
A client's surgical wound drains produce this normal draining from a wound 2 days postoperative.
What is serosanguineous?
This is more likely to occur in obese patients but can happen with any patient and is considered a post-op emergency
What is wound dehiscence?
Alterations in this electrolyte, both high and low, put a patient at risk for cardiac arrhythmias
What is potassium Bonus: What is the normal range?
This is the first action the nurse takes when a client is transferred from the surgical unit to PACU.
What is assessing for a patent airway and adequate gas exchange?