A nurse is caring for a client who is experiencing shaking chills during the immediate postpartum period. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

Shaking chills in the immediate postpartum period are a recognized physiological response that commonly occurs due to the rapid shift in body temperature after delivery, hormonal changes, and vasomotor instability. The appropriate first nursing action is to determine the client's temperature to differentiate this normal postpartum phenomenon from a pathological process such as infection. If the temperature is within normal limits, warm blankets can be applied as a comfort measure to alleviate the chills. While covering the client with warm blankets may address comfort and is a reasonable follow-up, it should not precede objective data collection such as temperature assessment, because a fever could indicate endometritis, chorioamnionitis, or other infection requiring prompt treatment. Notifying the charge nurse is premature before the nurse has completed an initial assessment; delegation or escalation is appropriate only once relevant data have been gathered. Placing the client on seizure precautions is not warranted by shaking chills alone; seizure precautions are indicated for clients with preeclampsia or eclampsia, which present with different clinical features. The keyed answer of placing the client on seizure precautions is therefore incorrect. Determining the client's temperature is the priority action because it guides all subsequent clinical decisions.