The nurse's physical assessment of a client with heart failure reveals tachypnea and bilateral crackles. what is the priority nursing intervention?

There are choices for this question namely:

1. Initiate oxygen therapy

2. Assess for a pleural friction rub

3. Obtain a chest x-ray film immediately

4. Place the client in a fowler's position

The correct answer is that the nurse should "place the client in a fowler's position". The fowler's position is a position wherein the head and chest of the patient is elevated more than the lower extremities. In a patient with heart failure with tachypnea and bilateral crackles, the nurse should suspect pulmonary edema. By placing the patient in a fowler's position, the edema fluid in the lungs will gravitate towards the lower extremities, reducing pulmonary edema and reducing symptoms of dyspnea and tachypnea.