The nurse is caring for a 57-year-old woman who is intubated and sedated in the post-anesthesia care unit following a radical hysterectomy. The patient remained stable throughout the 6 hour surgery during which she experienced a 2 L blood loss. The nurse has emptied the patient’s indwelling catheter every hour for the 3 hours the patient has been in the PACU with the following volumes: 54 mL, 23 mL, 12 mL, and 5 mL. Her heart rate is 112 bpm, oxygen saturation is 99%, and blood pressure is 82/54 mmHg. The nurse contacts the provider to report these findings and advocate for which initial order?  

While reviewing the patient’s chart in preparation for admission to the intensive care unit, the nurse learns the patient is exhibiting ataxic breathing. Which pattern does the nurse expect to observe in the patient?

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?