The nurse is preparing to care for a patient admitted from an institutional setting. The nurse notes that the patient’s serum albumin level was measured at 2.9 g/dL and BMI (body mass index) was calculated to be 16. Which clinical finding does the nurse anticipate to observe?

The nurse encourages the patient who works the night shift to hang blackout curtains in the bedroom to promote sleep. The nurse makes this recommendation based on an understanding of which physiologic process?

The patient is recovering from a lower spinal cord injury that has resulted in paraplegia and lack of sensation below the umbilicus. Which instruction is most important to help the patient protect skin integrity?