A nurse is preparing to administer digoxin 5 mg PO to a client. The amount available is digoxin 0.5 mg/tablet. How many tablets should the nurse administer? (Round the answer to the nearest whole number, Use leading zero if it applies. Do not use a trailing zero.)

A) "It sounds like you are exhausted":
This response demonstrates empathy, as the nurse is acknowledging the client's emotional state by reflecting back what the client might be feeling. The nurse recognizes the client's experience of being overwhelmed, using empathetic language to show understanding without judgment or offering solutions prematurely. The phrase "sounds like you are exhausted" is a way of mirroring the client's feelings and giving validation to their experience.

B) "You have so much to deal with. How can I be of help to you?":
While this response offers support and suggests the nurse is ready to help, it does not focus as much on empathy. It is more solution-focused, and while helpful, it doesn’t directly acknowledge or validate the emotional experience of the client as much as an empathetic response would. Empathy focuses on acknowledging the emotional state rather than jumping immediately to offering help.

C) "Tell me more about how you are feeling":
This is a good open-ended question that encourages the client to elaborate on their feelings, but it doesn’t directly reflect empathy. The question prompts the client to talk but does not explicitly acknowledge or validate their emotional experience, which is the primary goal of an empathetic response.

D) "It is impressive how you have managed to deal with this situation":
This response is more focused on offering praise, which, while positive, can come across as dismissive or minimizing of the client's distress. Instead of acknowledging the client's current feelings, it praises their past coping, which may not fully validate the emotional burden they are feeling at the moment. An empathetic response would focus on the client's current emotional state, not necessarily on past strength.

A) Increased blood pressure:
Fluid overload results in an increased volume of fluid in the vascular system, leading to higher blood pressure. The excess volume places additional strain on the heart and blood vessels, causing an elevation in systolic and diastolic pressure. The nurse should expect to find elevated blood pressure in a client experiencing fluid overload due to the increased blood volume.

B) Increased hematocrit:
Hematocrit is the proportion of red blood cells in the blood, and it tends to decrease, not increase, during fluid overload. This is because the excess fluid in the bloodstream dilutes the blood, lowering the hematocrit level. Therefore, an increase in hematocrit would not be expected in fluid overload.

C) Increased respiratory rate:
Fluid overload, particularly when it affects the lungs (as seen in conditions like congestive heart failure), can cause respiratory distress. The accumulation of fluid in the lungs impairs gas exchange, leading to hypoxia and the body compensating by increasing the respiratory rate. This response helps increase oxygenation and expel carbon dioxide, so the nurse should expect to see an increased respiratory rate.

D) Increased heart rate:
An elevated heart rate, or tachycardia, is a compensatory response to fluid overload. The heart tries to pump the excess fluid through the circulatory system, which increases the heart's workload. As a result, the heart rate increases in an attempt to maintain adequate cardiac output despite the increased blood volume.

E) Increased temperature:
An elevated body temperature is not typically associated with fluid overload. In fact, fluid overload is more likely to present with normal or slightly lower body temperature, especially if there is no infection or inflammatory process present. If there is an increase in temperature, the nurse should consider other possible causes, such as infection or inflammatory conditions.