A nurse assists a patient on the first postoperative day to ambulate,cough,deep breathe,and turn.Which action by the nurse is most helpful?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

An important nursing action to encourage these postoperative activities is administration of adequate analgesia to allow the patient to accomplish the activities with minimal pain.Even with motivation provided by proper teaching,positive reinforcement,and concern about complications,patients will have difficulty if there is a great deal of pain involved with these activities.When using an incentive spirometer,the patient should be taught to inhale deeply,rather than exhale into the spirometer to promote lung expansion and prevent atelectasis.

A Nurse Assists a Patient on the First Postoperative Day