Before rigor mortis occurs, the nurse is responsible for:
A. Providing a complete bath and dressing change.
B. Placing one pillow under the body’s head and shoulders.
C. Removing the body’s clothing and wrapping the body in a shroud.
D. Allowing the body to relax normally.
Correct Answer: B. Placing one pillow under the body’s head and shoulders.
The nurse must place a pillow under the deceased person’s head and shoulders to prevent blood from settling in the face and discoloring it. A body undergoes complex and intricate changes after death. These post mortem changes depend on a diverse range of variables. Factors such as the ambient temperature, season, and geographical location at which the body is found, the fat content of the body, sepsis/injuries, intoxication, presence of clothes/insulation over the body, etc. determine the rate at which post-mortem changes occur in a cadaver.
Option A: She is required to bathe only soiled areas of the body since the mortician will wash the entire body. Changes that occur to a body after death are a result of complex physicochemical and environmental processes. They are affected by factors within the cadaver and outside it. These factors affect the onset and either increase the rate of post-mortem changes or retard it. Factors that hasten the rate of post mortem changes include hot and humid climate, presence of body fat, open injuries on the body, sepsis or infection, and the location of the cadaver in the open.
Option C: Before wrapping the body in a shroud, the nurse places a clean gown on the body and closes the eyes and mouth. Rigor Mortis appears in 1 to 2 hours after death, is completely formed 12 hours after death, is sustained for the next 12 hours, and vanishes over the next 12 hours, sometimes referred to as the ‘march of rigor.’
Option D: Rigor mortis appears rapidly in children and old aged individuals, in cases of persons dying of diseases or conditions involving great exhaustion such as cholera, or due to convulsions as in cases of strychnine poisoning. In such cases, the rigor disappears early as well. The effect of rigor on individual muscles can be of additional significance. The rigor of erector pilae muscles may cause elevation of hair leading to the pimpled appearance of the skin.