Problem: The nurse who is in charge of the care of a 46-year-old patient who was admitted with a suspicion of intestinal obstruction. Her doctor's initial goal is to avoid surgery and see if her intestinal obstruction resolves on its own. The physician orders an abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan to identify if and where a small bowel obstruction exists and to keep the patient free by mouth (NPO). The doctor also prescribes placing an intravenous access, to start an infusion of normal saline solution (0.9nss) to keep the patient hydrated and strictly record the fluid balance (I&O). The patient continues to vomit and says that she "has a lot of nausea and abdominal pain." Her abdomen is also quite distended with pain to the touch. The doctor asks the nurse to place a nasogastric tube (NGT) to drain secretions from her stomach every 2 hours in an attempt to decompress her stomach and alleviate vomiting. The doctor also prescribes antiemetic drugs: Metoclopramide 10 mg intravenously every 8 hours. The patient is accompanied by her husband, who is very concerned and continually asks about the disease and the treatments that his wife is receiving.
1. Identifies what the client's learning needs are through the collection, organization and validation of data in the nursing estimation phase.
2. Determine what the client's and family's learning priorities are and select the three (3) highest priority learning needs in order of importance.