An adult female client, who is an office worker, comes to the occupational health clinic with an edematous right leg twice the size of the left leg. The client reports that she is otherwise healthy, smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day, and takes birth control pills on a regular basis. Which initial nursing action should the occupational health nurse take?

Rationale: A. Treat with ice then apply an elastic bandage wrap: Applying ice or compression without assessing for the underlying cause could worsen conditions such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Immediate assessment is required before any treatment. B. Check the leg for warmth and erythema: Warmth, redness, and swelling are classic signs of DVT, which is a medical emergency, especially in a client with risk factors such as smoking and oral contraceptive use. Assessing for these signs first helps identify a potentially life-threatening condition. C. Ask the client to rate her pain on a scale from 0 to 10: Pain assessment is important for overall evaluation but does not provide objective information about the presence of DVT, which must be ruled out immediately. D. Teach the client to keep the leg elevated: Elevation may help with edema but could delay urgent evaluation for DVT. Initiating teaching without first assessing for a serious vascular issue could be unsafe.