What should a nurse monitor for a client on clozapine who reports dizziness?

In a client receiving clozapine, monitoring for dizziness is crucial, as this medication can cause hypotension, particularly when starting treatment or during dose adjustments. Clozapine is known to have a side effect profile that includes potential orthostatic hypotension, where a person's blood pressure may drop when standing or sitting up, leading to dizziness.

While it’s essential to monitor the respiratory rate and body temperature due to the risk of agranulocytosis—a serious decrease in white blood cells that clozapine can cause—these factors are less directly related to the immediate effect of dizziness. Although heart rate can be affected by blood pressure changes, the most direct link to dizziness in this context is monitoring blood pressure.

Diligently checking blood pressure allows the nurse to assess whether dizziness is related to hypotension and helps inform any necessary interventions, such as adjusting the medication or providing safety measures to prevent falls. Thus, monitoring blood pressure is the most relevant action in this scenario.