What should a nurse monitor to identify successful treatment after administering naloxone?

Monitoring the respiratory rate is crucial for identifying successful treatment after administering naloxone, especially since naloxone is an opioid antagonist used to reverse opioid overdose. Opioid overdose often leads to respiratory depression, which can be life-threatening. Upon administration of naloxone, the expected outcome is an improvement in respiratory function, indicating that the opioid effects are being reversed.

If the respiratory rate increases and normalizes, it signals that naloxone is effectively counteracting the effects of opioids, allowing the patient to breathe more adequately. This is a direct measure of the reversal effects of naloxone and is essential for ensuring patient safety.

While heart rate, blood pressure, and pupil response are also important indicators of a patient's overall condition and can provide additional information, they are not as directly correlated with the primary purpose of naloxone administration, which is to restore normal respiratory function. Hence, monitoring the respiratory rate is the most direct and pertinent indicator of successful treatment in this scenario.