If additional orders are needed in emergency care, what should you do?

• A. Contact Medical Control for Additional Orders.
• B. Notify the hospital information desk.
• C. Document and wait for the next routine visit.
• D. Request a family member's consent.

Answer: (A)

In emergencies, when you need guidance beyond your standing protocols, you should contact Medical Control to obtain additional orders. This ensures you have real-time, legally recognized physician direction to modify or add treatments that fit the patient’s condition and local protocols, giving you authoritative guidance for urgent decisions.

Notifying the hospital information desk won’t authorize field care, and waiting for a routine visit would delay potentially lifesaving interventions. Asking a family member for consent isn’t the mechanism for urgent field decisions; when the patient can’t consent and immediate action is needed, you rely on implied consent and the physician orders provided by Medical Control.