After abdominal surgery, a client has a prescription for meperidine (Demerol) IM 100 mg every 3 to 4 hours and acetaminophen (Tylenol) with codeine 30 mg. The client has been taking meperidine every 4...

After abdominal surgery, a client has a prescription for meperidine (Demerol) IM 100 mg every 3 to 4 hours and acetaminophen (Tylenol) with codeine 30 mg. The client has been taking meperidine every 4 hours for the past 48 hours but tells the nurse that the meperidine is no longer lasting 4 hours and that the client needs to have it every 3 hours. Which of the following nursing actions is most appropriate?

1. Realizing that the client is developing tolerance to the meperidine, the nurse administers the meperidine every 3 hours.

2. The nurse urges the client to take the acetaminophen with codeine to prevent addiction to the meperidine.

3. The nurse requests a prescription from the physician to change the dose to an equianalgesic dose of morphine.

4. The nurse encourages the client to do relaxation exercises to provide distraction from the pain.