Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 13th Edition by Kerry Cheever, Janice Hinkle

Exercise 1

You are caring for a 78-year-old woman who is 2 days postoperative for acholecystectomy. She has refused to take pain medication due to fears of developingan addiction and as a result is reluctant to advance her activity. On assessment, younote an increase in respiratory rate, the use of accessory muscles, a decrease in SPO2,and crackles to bilateral lower lobes.Based on your knowledge of respiratoryfunction, what pulmonary complications could these findings reflect and why? Whatadditional types of assessment will you perform? How will the findings influence yourunderstanding of these changes? Discuss the evidence-based interventions that couldhave been initiated to prevent this patient's clinical deterioration.