Which combination of frameworks is used to decide the nurse's priority action?

• A. Maslow's Hierarchy
• B. Nursing Process
• C. ABCs, Maslow's Hierarchy, and Nursing Process
• D. ABCs

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is prioritization in nursing care using multiple frameworks together to guide what action to take first. Start with ABCs—Airway, Breathing, Circulation—as the immediate, life-sustaining priorities. If a patient isn’t airway-compatible, isn’t ventilating well, or isn’t circulating enough blood, survival depends on fixing those issues right away, so they drive the earliest actions.

Maslow’s Hierarchy helps you think about the order in which patient needs should be addressed after ensuring the basics are stabilized. Physiological needs sit at the base, so once the airway, breathing, and circulation are secure, you move on to other needs in a logical sequence. This helps you prioritize not just what to do next, but what to ensure happens as stabilization progresses.

The Nursing Process provides the structured method to carry out care: assess the patient, diagnose the problems, plan interventions, implement them, and evaluate outcomes. It ensures your prioritization is systematic and continuously revisited as the patient’s condition changes.

Putting it together, you use ABCs for immediate life-threatening issues, Maslow’s Hierarchy to sequence needs after stabilization, and the Nursing Process to organize and execute the care plan. Using any single framework alone can miss an aspect of prioritization—combining all three gives a comprehensive, practical approach to deciding the nurse’s priority action.