The nurse is caring for a 6-year-old child who had surgery that morning. The child is awake and lying very still in bed and won't respond when the nurse asks about pain. The nurse will perform which action?

Question

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The child seems to be in pain but is not responding to verbal communication, so an "ouch" scale would be the best option to assess the child's pain level. The nurse can use a visual scale with different faces depicting different levels of pain, and ask the child to point to the face that best represents their pain. This allows communication without the need for verbal responses. It is not appropriate to ask a child to rate their pain on a scale of 1 to 10 if they are not responding to verbal communication. Encouraging the child to request pain medication when needed may not be effective if the child is very young and may not recognize when they need pain medication. Planning to administer pain medication only when the child cries is not appropriate, as by that point the child may already be in significant pain.

The Nurse Is Caring for a 6-Year-Old Child Who Had