The nurse is caring for a client with a new tracheostomy. Which action is most important to include in the client’s plan of care?

Choice A reason: Facilitating a family meeting with palliative care discusses end-of-life goals in COPD, where airway obstruction causes respiratory failure. However, notifying the provider of the living will ensures immediate alignment with the client’s wishes, especially on ventilation, addressing the urgent need to respect legal directives in a critical scenario.

Choice B reason: Alerting staff about do-not-resuscitate (DNR) wishes assumes the living will specifies DNR, which requires confirmation. The provider must review the document first, as end-stage COPD necessitates clarity on ventilation preferences to guide urgent care, making notification the priority over premature staff alerts.

Choice C reason: Placing the living will in the EHR ensures documentation but does not immediately affect care. In end-stage COPD with respiratory distress, notifying the provider ensures the client’s wishes, like avoiding intubation, are followed promptly, preventing unwanted interventions, making this more urgent than administrative tasks.

Choice D reason: Notifying the provider of the living will is critical, as it legally specifies the client’s preferences, potentially refusing ventilation in end-stage COPD, where dyspnea results from irreversible obstruction. This ensures treatment respects autonomy, guiding immediate care to align with palliative goals, preventing inappropriate interventions during a crisis.

Choice A reason: Showing the client how to clean assumes cognitive capacity impaired in schizophrenia, where psychosis or disorganized thinking drives behaviors like fecal smearing. This may reflect delusions, not a lack of cleaning knowledge. Escorting the client out prioritizes hygiene and safety, allowing psychiatric assessment over teaching in an acute situation.

Choice B reason: Assisting with cleaning risks reinforcing the behavior and exposes both to pathogens like E. coli in feces. Schizophrenia may impair compliance or understanding. Escorting the client out ensures safety and hygiene, enabling evaluation of psychotic triggers, making this less appropriate than removing the client from the situation.

Choice C reason: Escorting the client out prevents further pathogen exposure, as feces carry infection risks (e.g., gastroenteritis). In schizophrenia, smearing may stem from psychosis, requiring psychiatric evaluation. This action ensures hygiene and safety, allowing assessment of underlying mental health issues, addressing the behavior’s root cause effectively.

Choice D reason: Explaining that feces belong in the toilet assumes rational understanding, impaired in schizophrenia due to disorganized thought or delusions. This behavior likely reflects psychosis. Escorting the client out prioritizes hygiene and safety, followed by psychiatric intervention, making explanation less effective than immediate removal from the contaminated area.