Case Study

A 67-year-old client had an epidural catheter inserted for pain management following a total knee replacement. After successful treatment of an episode of hypotension in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), he was transferred to the medical-surgical unit. The registered nurses assessed the client and delegated direct care to an LPN, although this was denied by the LPN. Three hours later, the client experienced nausea and vomiting. The client was found cyanotic and unresponsive 10 minutes later and subsequently died of anoxic encephalopathy. Many facts were disputed among the numerous codefendants and documentation was poor (Nurses Service Organization, 2012).

Using the scenario above, write a one-page paper using APA format, the paper should include:

    Priority assessments that were missed
    Steps of the nursing process that were done inappropriately or missed completely and why?
    What steps of the delegation were inappropriate and why?
    What could have been done to prevent this outcome?

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