At the first dressing change, the practical nurse (PN) tells the client that her mastectomy incision is healing well, but the client refuses to look at the incision and refuses to talk about it. Which response by the PN to the client's silence is best?

The correct answer is choiceB. Verify completion of all new prescriptions. This task is crucial to ensure patient safety and proper medication administration.

Choice A rationale:

Clean up and organize the nurses’ workstation: While maintaining an organized workstation is important for efficiency and reducing stress, it is not the highest priority task. Patient safety and care tasks take precedence over organizational tasks.

Choice B rationale:

Verify completion of all new prescriptions: This is the highest priority because verifying new prescriptions ensures that patients receive the correct medications as prescribed by their healthcare providers.This step is critical to prevent medication errors, which can have serious or even fatal consequences. Ensuring the accuracy of medication orders directly impacts patient safety and care quality.

Choice C rationale:

Calculate and record intake and output totals: Monitoring and recording intake and output is important for assessing a patient’s fluid balance and overall health status. However, this task can be delegated to another team member and does not take precedence over verifying medication orders, which is more time-sensitive and directly related to patient safety.

Choice D rationale:

Write a narrative shift summary for each client: Documenting a shift summary is essential for continuity of care and communication between healthcare providers. However, this task can be completed after ensuring that all critical patient care tasks, such as verifying new prescriptions, are addressed first.

The correct answer is choiced. Explains importance of wearing protective clothing when outdoors.

Choice A rationale:

Maintaining a current immunization schedule is important for overall health, but it is not directly related to Lyme disease prevention or management, as there is no vaccine for Lyme disease in humans.

Choice B rationale:

Wearing a mask when leaving the room is a precaution for airborne diseases, not for Lyme disease, which is transmitted through tick bites.

Choice C rationale:

Disposal of personal tissues in a no-touch receptacle is a general infection control measure but does not specifically address Lyme disease prevention or management.

Choice D rationale:

Wearing protective clothing when outdoors is crucial for preventing tick bites, which are the primary mode of transmission for Lyme disease. This measure directly addresses the prevention of Lyme disease.