The nurse begins a shift assessment by examining a surgical dressing that is saturated with serosanguineous drainage on a patient who had open abdominal surgery yesterday (or 1 day ago). Which type of assessment approach is the nurse using?

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The nurse is not doing a complete, general assessment and then focusing on specific problem areas. Instead, the nurse focuses immediately on the problem at hand (dressing and drainage from surgery) and performs a problem-oriented assessment. Utilizing Gordon's Functional Health Patterns is an example of a structured database-type assessment technique that includes 11 patterns to assess. The nurse in this question is performing a specific problem-oriented assessment approach, not a general approach. The nurse is not performing an activity-exercise pattern assessment in this question.

The Nurse Begins a Shift Assessment by Examining a Surgical