After cleaning the patient’s body following a death, what should the nurse do next?

Placing a tag on the body is an essential step after cleaning the patient following death because it ensures accurate identification and proper handling by healthcare staff and personnel. This tagging is critical for several reasons. It helps to maintain the dignity of the deceased by ensuring their identity is clearly associated with their body, which is vital for legal and administrative processes that follow a death. Additionally, the tag typically includes important information such as the patient's name, identification number, and time of death, which aids in record-keeping and prevents any potential mix-ups with other deceased individuals in a healthcare setting.

In this context, while removing the patient’s personal belongings is important, it typically occurs after the body has been tagged and is not the immediate next step. Calling the funeral home or checking vital signs would also not be appropriate immediately following the cleaning, as those actions come later in the process. Hence, tagging the body is the most critical next step to ensure proper identification and respect for the deceased.