The nurse is caring for a preoperative patient. The nurse teaches the principles and demonstrates leg exercises for the patient. The patient is unable to perform leg exercises correctly. What is the nurse's best next step?

Question

a. Assess for the presence of anxiety, pain, or fatigue.
b. Ask the patient why he does not want to do the exercises.
c. Encourage the patient to practice at a later date.
d. Assess the educational methods used to educate the patient.

Answer 1

A
If the patient is unable to perform leg exercises after sound educational principles and demonstration are provided, the nurse should look for circumstances that may be impacting the patient's ability to learn. In this case, the patient can be anticipating the upcoming surgery and may be experiencing anxiety. The patient may also be in pain or may be fatigued; both of these can affect the ability to learn. Assessment of educational methods may be needed, but in this case, sound principles and demonstration are being utilized. Asking anyone why can cause defensiveness and may not help in attaining the answer. In this case, the patient really may want to participate and may not know why he is unable to learn. The nurse is aware that the patient is unable to do the exercises. Moving forward without ascertaining that learning has occurred will not help the patient in meeting goals.