The unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) tells the practical nurse (PN) that a male client is angry because the night shift took over 2 hours to bring him the pain medication he had to request three times. Which action should the PN implement first?
Explanation & Rationale
Ask the client to describe what happened. Calling the agency-based client advocate (Choice A) should not be the first action taken in this situation. While involving an advocate might be necessary at some point, it is more appropriate to address the client's concerns and gather information about the incident first. Completing a client adverse incident report (Choice C) is an important step to document the event and any potential issues, but it should not be the first action taken. Before completing the report, the nurse needs to understand the situation from the client's perspective. Informing the charge nurse of the situation (Choice D) is a reasonable step, but it should not be the first action. It may be necessary to escalate the issue, but understanding the situation from the client's viewpoint should be prioritized.