The patient presents to the emergency department after having a metal beam fall on his head at a work site. He was wearing a helmet which broke with the impact. He was unconscious at the scene but is awake now, and his initial assessment is completely benign. Which finding upon reassessment 30 minutes later is most concerning?

The nurse assesses the patient’s capillary refill time to be 5 seconds. Which inference from this assessment is most appropriate?

The nurse is assigned a patient with Hodgkin’s lymphoma undergoing initial treatment. On the patient’s second day, he develops an acute painful swelling and erythema of the right gastrocnemius. The following morning, the patient develops an acute shortness of breath and pleuritic chest pain. Within minutes, the patient loses consciousness and dies. Which of the following interventions would most likely have prevented this patient’s death?