Final answer:
Prior to an epidural, nursing actions include confirming antibiotics administration, ensuring essential imaging is displayed, verifying patient identity and procedure details, reviewing critical event plans, and checking patient allergies and airway risks.
Step-by-step explanation:
Before administering an epidural, there are several critical nursing actions required to ensure patient safety and procedural success. These actions include:
- Verifying the patient has received prophylactic antibiotics, if indicated, approximately 60 minutes before the procedure.
- Ensuring all essential imaging results for the correct patient are displayed in the operating room.
- Reviewing the name of the procedure as recorded, ensuring needle, sponge, and instrument counts are complete, and confirming any specimens are correctly labeled with the patient's name.
- Confirming all team members have been introduced by name and role, including the patient's identity, surgical site, and procedure.
- Discussing anticipated critical events such as critical and unexpected steps, duration of the operation, and anticipated blood loss with the surgical team.
- Reviewing specific patient concerns related to anesthesia, confirming sterility, the availability of equipment, and addressing any equipment issues.
- Verifying patient identity, surgical site and procedure, and consent; ensuring the surgical site is marked or addressing why marking is not applicable; and confirming the function of the pulse oximeter on the patient.
- Ensuring that all members of the team are aware of any known allergies the patient has.
- Assessing the patient's airway and risk of aspiration, making sure that appropriate equipment and assistance are available.
It is critical for all nursing staff involved in the procedure to be familiar with these pre-epidural placement protocols to provide safe and effective patient care.