Question

Scenario: You are a nurse on the Medical-Surgical floor. Your patient is Ms. Smith, a 54-year- old single accountant. Ms. Smith had a total knee replacement of the left knee 2 days ago. She has a history of hypertension (high blood pressure). When you check on Ms. Smith, you notice she has increasing dyspnea (difficultly breathing) and is complaining of mild chest pain. She states this all started 1 hour ago and is getting worse. You decide to take her vital signs. Her pulse is 114, blood pressure 138/80, oxygen saturation is 96%, respiratory rate is 24. She is restless and short of breath. You are concerned that Ms. Smith may be having a cardiac event or a pulmonary embolism. You know you need to call the physician caring for Ms. Smith. In the following questions, use SBAR to share your findings and voice your concern to the physician. How would you communicate the Situation? How would you communicate the Background information? Give your Assessment findings What is your Recommendation?

Answer 1

To communicate the concern to the physician, use the SBAR technique and provide relevant information about the patient's condition.

Step-by-step explanation:

As a nurse, it is important to communicate your concern to the physician using the SBAR technique. In this case, the Situation would be that Ms. Smith, a 54-year-old patient who had a knee replacement surgery two days ago, is experiencing increasing dyspnea and mild chest pain for the past hour. The Background information would include Ms. Smith's history of hypertension and her current vital signs, such as a pulse of 114, blood pressure of 138/80, oxygen saturation of 96%, and respiratory rate of 24. The Assessment findings would indicate restlessness and shortness of breath. Based on these findings, the nurse's Recommendation would be to voice concern regarding a possible cardiac event or pulmonary embolism.