An 87-year-old woman in the terminal stage of cancer is cared for by her family at home with the assistance of hospice. She is in continuous malignant pain, and the health care provider has left orders to administer morphine at a rate to control her pain. When the gerontological nurse visits the patient, the patient is awake but moaning with severe pain and asks for an increase in her pain medication. Her respirations are 10 breaths/min.
