what would YOu do?!

milly. . .have you been introduced to the nursing process yet? the first step before you do anything for any patient is to assess. you should question the patient immediately about their chest pain getting a description of it as best as they can give it to you since he/she is also tachypneic. do a quick physical assessment that includes taking the patient's vital signs and listening to heart and lung sounds. place the patient in a semi-fowler's position or higher for better comfort. then, administer oxygen if you've got an order for it. if not, i'd be on the phone to the doctor with my assessment information. with doctor's orders in hand, the order of steps to take would be something like this: give nitroglycerine if ordered stat, otherwise get an iv access started, give any iv medication ordered to relieve the patient's pain, get the ekg, and you will most likely be getting labwork, starting iv medications and anticoagulation.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~nursingprocess/index.htm - this is a beautiful site that defines and explains a bit of what the nursing process is. you can also click on the links at the left side of the webpage to go to various subjects included within the nursing process to find out more about them.

http://www.mac.edu/faculty/nursingdepartment/200%20level/nursing_process.htm#return%20to%20top - the nursing process - a short introductory tutorial of what it is

Aw gee, the first thing I would do is sit them up to hopefully provide some breathing relief, following the ABCs and ask questions while I was doing that but in the multiple choice nclex type quest. I would pick to sit them up.

And yes, I have been introduced to the nursing process but then again I'm a new grad! :)

What is the answer?