The key idea is to keep the knee’s motion within what the surgeon ordered after a total knee arthroplasty. Continuous passive motion (CPM) is used to promote range of motion without active muscle use, but the amount of flexion or extension the device imposes must stay within the prescribed limits to protect the new joint and surrounding tissues. Flexing the knee to 90 degrees five hours after surgery is typically beyond the initial postoperative range and could risk prosthesis strain or tissue injury, so this observation requires nursing intervention to adjust the device to the ordered ROM or pause it until further orders are obtained. In contrast, extending the leg a small amount (about 10°) with CPM is generally acceptable, the drain amount of 75 mL in the early hours post-op can be expected, and using the nonoperative leg to reposition onto a bedpan is common when weight bearing is restricted.

The main idea here is protecting patient privacy and ensuring information is shared only with authorized people. When people call about a hospitalized patient, the nurse should direct them to a family member who is an authorized contact to receive and relay information. This respects confidentiality and avoids disclosing health details to someone who isn’t authorized. Providing the provider’s name, offering a direct conversation with the patient, or stating the patient’s condition to the caller would risk sharing information without proper consent. By guiding the caller to speak with a family member, the nurse ensures that information is shared through the appropriate channel.

When a four-month-old stops breathing, the first priority is to restore ventilation. The nurse should open the airway and deliver rescue breaths to re-expand the lungs, watching for chest rise with each breath. In an infant, this rescue-breath step is typically done by mouth-to-mouth (or mouth-to-mouth with a barrier if available), delivering two breaths of about one second each. Avoid hyperextending the neck, since infants are best kept with a neutral head position to keep the airway open. Chest compressions are not started until there is no pulse; when they are needed, compressions for an infant are performed with two fingers on the center of the chest, not with the palm of the hand. Palpating the carotid pulse is not the correct first action in this age group; the initial focus is on breathing and airway, not pulse checks. So the recommended first intervention is providing rescue breaths to ventilate the infant.

Maintaining sterility during a dressing change is the key idea here. Once you’ve opened the sterile pack and donned sterile gloves, the area around your hands and the immediate field must stay uncontaminated. If you realize that dressings are missing, you should not reach for or expose yourself to non-sterile items or move away from the patient to fetch things. Staying at the bedside with the sterile field intact while a nursing assistant retrieves the missing dressings keeps the risk of contamination lowest. Only after the missing supplies arrive should you proceed with the dressing change. This approach avoids contaminating the sterile field by not stepping away or re-prepping unnecessarily. It’s appropriate to request help to bring in what’s needed, but the critical point is to maintain your position at the patient’s side and keep the sterile area secure until you can continue.