A postoperative patient reports pain, which the patient rates as an 8 on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 ...

ANS: B
The nursing diagnosis for this patient is severe pain. Acetaminophen is given for mild to moderate pain, so the nurse should ask the prescriber to order a stronger analgesic medication. Asking the patient to tell the nurse what has helped in the past is a part of an initial assessment and should be done preoperatively and not when the patient is having severe pain. Because the patient is having severe pain, acetaminophen combined with nondrug therapies will not be sufficient. Increasing the frequency of the dose of a medication for mild pain will not be effective.