A middle aged homeless man presents to the emergency department after being found unconcious by police at a nearby park after somebody physically assualted the man leaving him with a cracked rib and some bruising to the face.
He is later admitted to the ward that you are working on as a new graduate nurse. Near the end of your shift the patient rings the bell and tells you that he has severe pain in his upper abdomen and requests extra pain relief on top of what he has been given for the cracked rib. Your senior nurse on shift advises you that the patient is probably a drug seeker as he has a known history of alcohilism and is homeless and to not call the doctor to prescribe any other pain relief. You feel uneasy about the senior nurses assumption about the man but are also worried about going against the nurses clinical judgment as they are your superior and have an input into your work appraisal in a few weeks time.
Do you advocate for the man and have a doctor assess his pain score and any underlying problem causing the pain? Or do you wait until the next round of pain relief is due?
It is proposed that you go against the senior nurses judgment and ask for a doctor to assess the patient