Posted: July 11th, 2017

Emergency medical technicians transport a 27-year-old iron worker to the emergency department. They tell the nurse, “He fell from a two-story building. He has a large contusion on his left chest and a hematoma in the left parietal area. He has a compound fracture of his left femur and he’s comatose. We intubated him and he’s maintaining an arterial oxygen saturation of 92% by pulse oximeter with a manual resuscitation bag.” Which intervention by the nurse has the highest priority?

Emergency medical technicians transport a 27-year-old iron worker to the emergency department. They tell the nurse, “He fell from a two-story building. He has a large contusion on his left chest and a hematoma in the left parietal area. He has a compound fracture of his left femur and he’s comatose. We intubated him and he’s maintaining an arterial oxygen saturation of 92% by pulse oximeter with a manual resuscitation bag.” Which intervention by the nurse has the highest priority?

A. Assessing the left leg
B. Assessing the pupils
C. Placing the client in Trendelenburg’s position
D. Assessing level of consciousness