You are the nurse caring for an unconscious trauma victim who needs emergency surgery. The patient is a 55-year-old man with an adult son. He is legally divorced and is planning to be remarried in a few weeks. His parents are at the hospital with the other family members. The physician has explained the need for surgery, the procedure to be done, and the risks to the children, the parents, and the fiancé. Who should be asked to sign the surgery consent form?

You are the nurse caring for an unconscious trauma victim who needs emergency surgery. The patient is a 55-year-old man with an adult son. He is legally divorced and is planning to be remarried in a few weeks. His parents are at the hospital with the other family members. The physician has explained the need for surgery, the procedure to be done, and the risks to the children, the parents, and the fiancé. Who should be asked to sign the surgery consent form?

The nurse is performing wound care on a 68-year-old postsurgical patient. Which of the following practices violates the principles of surgical asepsis?

As a perioperative nurse, you know that the National Patient Safety Goals have the potential to improve patient outcomes in a wide variety of health care settings. Which of these Goals has the most direct relevance to the OR?

The nurse is caring for a 78-year-old man who has had an outpatient cholecystectomy. The nurse is getting him up for his first walk postoperatively. To decrease the potential for orthostatic hypotension and consequent falls, what should the nurse have the patient do?

The nursing instructor is discussing postoperative care with a group of nursing students. A student nurse asks, 'Why does the patient go to the PACU instead of just going straight up to the postsurgical unit?' What is the nursing instructor's best response?