Martha Moore is an 87-year-old woman with a history ofosteoporosis and hypertension. She had an exploratory laparotomyfor a small bowel obstruction 2 days ago. Mrs. Moore’s hemoglobinlevel is 9g and her SaO2is 90%. Upon assessment, Martha reports hercough kept her awake last night. Vital signs are as follows:temperature 101°F; blood pressure 150/78mmHg; heart rate 100beats/min; and respiratory rate 24 breaths/min. On auscultation,the nurse hears crackles in both lungs. The patient reports a sharppain in her chest when she takes a deep breath. After the deepbreath for auscultation, the patient has a productive cough, andthe nurse notices the sputum is green with rust-colored tinting.Martha reports she tries not to cough because it causes abdominalpain at her incision site.
1.What would you, as the nurse, recognize that Mrs. Moore’ssymptoms suggest as a post-operative complication?
2.What are the specific symptoms that you recognize? Whencalling report to her practitioner what SBAR items would you givethe practitioner?
3.What steps would you as the nurse take to help Mrs. Moorerecover more quickly and what do you think the criteria would befor Mrs. Moore to be discharged home?
