S.K. is a 15-year-old female who was cleaning the dishes when she cut her thumb on a microwave plate.

S.K. is a 15-year-old female who was cleaning the dishes when she cut her thumb on a microwave plate. There was a crack in the microwave plate which was about an inch thick that had been there for a while. As S.K. began cleaning the microwave plate, S.K. took her eyes off the dish for a brief second while still washing the plate and felt her right thumb bump the plate, which caused her to look down. As S.K. looked at her thumb she sees blood shooting out of her thumb along with white on her skin that was quickly filling up with blood. S.K. screamed and ran upstairs to her older sibling grasping her thumb. The sibling jumped up an immediately grabbed a towel and wrapped S.K.’s thumb and proceeded to drive S.K. to the emergency department (ED). S.K.’s mother was contacted while at work and met S.K. and the sibling at the ED. The towel S.K. had wrapped around her thumb was full of blood. While waiting to be seen, S.K.’s sibling was advised to monitor S.K. for signs of a loss of consciousness. S.K. received stitches and was notified that if the cut was deeper, she would have lost her ability to bend her thumb. Upon discharge, S.K. was prescribed 600mg of ibuprofen to be taken every 6-8 hours as needed for pain. Four weeks later S.K. went to her primary care physician’s (PCP) office for her suture removal. During her visit, her PCP told her she would experience pain when it rains or before it rains because of her injury, but she would have normal function of her right thumb. 

• Why does S.K. need to be monitored for signs of loss of consciousness?
• What would you do as the nurse if S.K. lost consciousness?
• What if S.K. loss her ability to use her thumb, how would you comfort her? What would you recommend? List three nursing diagnoses she would be at risk for, an intervention for each nursing diagnosis, and the rationale for each intervention.