Accompanied by her partner, a client seeks admission to the labor and delivery area and says she is in labor and attended prenatal care. Which question should the nurse ask her first?

Accompanied by her partner, a client seeks admission to the labor and delivery area and says she is in labor and attended prenatal care. Which question should the nurse ask her first?

• A. What is your expected due date?
• B. Do you know your blood type?
• C. Have you felt fetal movement today?
• D. When did your labor begin?

Answer: (A)

The main idea is to quickly establish how far along the pregnancy is to guide immediate management. Asking for the expected due date provides a rapid assessment of gestational age, telling you whether the patient is at term, preterm, or post-term. This information shapes decisions about monitoring priorities, potential interventions, and anticipated neonatal needs. Other questions are valuable in care, but they don’t influence the immediate triage and treatment plan as directly. A known due date anchors the clinical approach by clarifying risk level for complications associated with different gestational ages, whereas asking about blood type, fetal movement today, or exactly when labor began does not change the initial priorities as much in this moment.

The main idea is to quickly establish how far along the pregnancy is to guide immediate management. Asking for the expected due date provides a rapid assessment of gestational age, telling you whether the patient is at term, preterm, or post-term. This information shapes decisions about monitoring priorities, potential interventions, and anticipated neonatal needs.

Other questions are valuable in care, but they don’t influence the immediate triage and treatment plan as directly. A known due date anchors the clinical approach by clarifying risk level for complications associated with different gestational ages, whereas asking about blood type, fetal movement today, or exactly when labor began does not change the initial priorities as much in this moment.