A pediatric patient's parent seems anxious about the care plan. What is the nurse's best therapeutic communication strategy?
Focus exclusively on the child's condition and avoid engaging the parent's concerns.
Provide clear, detailed explanations and address their questions in a calm manner.
Reassure the parent quickly so they feel heard, and move on.
Use medical abbreviations to quickly outline next steps.
The Correct Answer is B
Choice A reason: Pediatric nursing requires a family-centered care approach. Ignoring a parent's anxiety can lead to a breakdown in trust and may negatively impact the child's care. Addressing parental concerns is essential for gathering accurate subjective data and ensuring the parent can effectively support the child's recovery process.
Choice B reason: Anxiety often stems from a lack of information or a perceived loss of control. Providing clear, evidence-based explanations helps demystify medical procedures and reduces the parent's autonomic nervous system arousal. A calm demeanor facilitates a therapeutic environment, allowing the parent to process information and participate in shared decision-making.
Choice C reason: Quick, "false" reassurances are non-therapeutic as they dismiss the parent's valid feelings. Effective communication requires active listening and presence. Moving on too quickly prevents the nurse from identifying specific stressors that may need intervention, potentially leading to increased parental distress and dissatisfaction with the healthcare team.
Choice D reason: The use of medical jargon or abbreviations can increase patient and family confusion, heightening anxiety levels. To ensure health literacy, the nurse must use plain language. Medical terminology acts as a barrier to understanding and prevents the parent from providing truly informed consent for the proposed care plan.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is B
Explanation
Choice A reason: Indoor tanning beds are not safe as they emit concentrated ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B radiation. This exposure significantly increases the risk of DNA damage in skin cells, leading to melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Patients must be taught that artificial UV sources are as hazardous as natural sunlight.
Choice B reason: Chemical sunscreens require approximately 15 to 20 minutes to be fully absorbed into the stratum corneum to provide effective photoprotection. Applying it immediately before or after exposure leaves the skin vulnerable to radiation. This statement demonstrates the patient understands the correct pharmacological application timing for maximum ultraviolet protection.
Choice C reason: Ultraviolet radiation can damage ocular tissues and the periocular skin even on cloudy or overcast days. Constant use of sunglasses that filter 99% to 100% of UVA and UVB rays is necessary to prevent cataracts and macular degeneration. Limiting use to bright days shows an incomplete understanding.
Choice D reason: Sunscreen must be reapplied at least every 2 hours, regardless of activity, because the active ingredients break down over time when exposed to light. Furthermore, sweating and friction from clothing can remove the protective layer. Restricting reapplication only to post-swimming activities significantly increases the risk of solar erythema.
Correct Answer is B
Explanation
Choice A reason: Exclusively documenting verbal behavior provides an incomplete clinical picture. Nonverbal cues, such as affect (the outward expression of emotion), often provide more honest data than the patient's verbal reports. Ignoring these cues can lead to a missed diagnosis of depression, mania, or other psychological conditions where verbal and nonverbal signals conflict.
Choice B reason: Comprehensive psychiatric and physical assessment requires the documentation of both mood (the patient's internal emotional state as reported by them) and affect (the nurse's objective observation of the patient's emotional expression). Noting a discrepancy—such as a patient reporting deep sadness while laughing (incongruent affect)—is a critical diagnostic finding for mental health evaluation.
Choice C reason: Separating the documentation into different entries is inefficient and makes it difficult for other members of the healthcare team to see the relationship between the findings. To identify patterns of behavior, the mood, affect, and any observed incongruence should be documented together within the same narrative or flow sheet entry.
Choice D reason: Only describing the current affect ignores the patient's subjective experience (their mood). A nurse must assess the "whole" person. Without the context of the reported mood, an observation of affect alone is less meaningful. For example, a "flat affect" is significantly more concerning when the patient also reports feeling hopeless or suicidal.
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