Teaching the clients wife to write down her thoughts

Teaching the client’s wife to write down her thoughts and feelings and to read them to her
husband
Saying to the client, “It sounds to me like your wife is truly comfortable and doesn’t want you to
worry needlessly”
Talking with both the client and his wife about the importance of expressing their feelings and
how to do it in healthy ways Correct
Talking with all family members, including the daughter, about the importance of expressing
their concerns and feelings to the dying client
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Rationale: The appropriate nursing intervention is to help the client and spouse
describe feelings that, left unspoken, might cause disruption and delay resolution. Teaching the
client’s wife to write down her thoughts and feelings and read them to her husband is
inappropriate without a prior determination of the wife’s feelings. In saying to the client, “It
sounds to me as if your wife is truly comfortable and doesn’t want you to worry needlessly,” the
nurse verbalizes a statement without a basis in fact, a nontherapeutic technique. Talking with all
family members is inappropriate and could violate client confidentiality.
°
Test-Taking Strategy: Use your knowledge of therapeutic communication
techniques. Eliminate the option that does not address the client’s feelings and places the client’s
feelings on hold. Next, eliminate the options that are comparable or alike because they both
address an intervention with a family member before determining their feelings. Review:
therapeutic communication techniques .
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References: Ignatavicius, D., & Workman, M. (2010). Medical-surgical nursing:
Patient-centered collaborative care. (6th ed., p. 116). St. Louis: Saunders.
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Stuart, G. (2009). Principles & practice of psychiatric nursing (9th ed., pp. 27-
31). St. Louis: Mosby.
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Cognitive Ability: Applying
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Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
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Integrated Process: Nursing Process/Implementation
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Content Area: Mental Health
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Giddens Concepts: Clincal Judgment, Communication
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HESI Concepts: Clinical Decision-Making/Clinical Judgment, Communication
Awarded 1.0 points out of 1.0 possible points.
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19. ID: 8482592934 A 45-year-old client says to the nurse, “Since I left my wife
and children, I can hardly make ends meet between child support and trying to support myself. I
don’t know why I bother going to work when my wife and kids take just about everything I
make.” Which nursing statement would be therapeutic?
“I wonder why you left your wife and children.”
“What would you expect your wife and children to do? They didn’t leave you.”
“You seem to be very angry about carrying out your responsibility to your children.”
“Do you feel that child support is designed to help children, not punish spouses who leave?”
Correct
°
Rationale: The nurse employs the therapeutic communication technique of
seeking clarification to support the client in processing his feelings more specifically. In
maintaining a neutral, unbiased, and nonjudgmental stance, the nurse can establish a trusting

relationship with the client. In stating, “I wonder why you left your wife and children,” the nurse