A nurse is caring for a client who has end-stage liver disease and is undergoing a paracentesis. Which of the following actions should the nurse take to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure?

The correct answer is choice A. The nurse should compare new prescriptions with the list of medications the client reports. This is part of the medication reconciliation process, which is done to avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions. It should be done at every transition of care in which new medications are ordered or existing orders are rewritten.

Choice B is wrong because the nurse should not encourage the client to make his own list after he returns to his home. The nurse should provide the client with an updated and accurate list of medications before discharge and instruct the client to keep it with him at all times.

Choice C is wrong because the nurse should not include any adverse effects of the medications the client might develop. The nurse should include any known allergies or adverse reactions the client has experienced in the past, but not potential adverse effects that have not occurred.

Choice D is wrong because the nurse should not exclude nutritional supplements from the list of medications the client reports. The nurse should include all prescription medications, herbals, vitamins, nutritional supplements, over-the-counter drugs, vaccines, diagnostic and contrast agents, radioactive medications, parenteral nutrition, blood derivatives, and intravenous solutions in the medication reconciliation process.

Some of these products may interact with prescribed medications or affect laboratory results.

The correct answer is choice B. How to operate the portable suction machine. The nurse should include this information in the teaching because suctioning is often needed to keep the tracheostomy tube and opening free from extra mucus and secretions that come from the lungs and tissue around the stoma. Suctioning can help prevent the tube from becoming plugged and improve breathing.

Choice A is wrong because the nondisposable tracheostomy tube does not need to be changed daily. It can be changed every 1 to 3 months, depending on the type of tube.

Choice C is wrong because the tracheostomy dressing should be changed using sterile technique, not clean technique, to prevent infection.

Choice D is wrong because the tracheostomy tube should not be secured with ties at the back of the neck. The ties should be fastened at the front or side of the neck, and they should be snug but not too tight.