The nurse brings the patient's medications into the room, and the patient shouts, "You don't care if I take these, so get out of my room!" Which response by the nurse is most likely to diminish the patient's anger?

Question

a. "Who misinformed you about my feel-ings?"
b. "You seem very angry about the medica-tions.".
c. "We know each other; why are you saying this?"
d. "I cannot leave until you take these medi-cations.".

Answer 1

B
To neutralize the situation, the nurse seeks to confirm an impression by sharing an observation about the patient's actions and encourages the patient to communicate about the anger to help keep him or her in control and elicit more discussion about his or her emotional state. The nurse's statement also expresses caring and respect for the patient. Questions beginning with "why" are confrontational and not likely to diminish anger. Confronting the patient with questions is more likely to escalate anger and force the patient to justify statements. When the nurse attempts to control the patient by stating that the medications must be administered before the nurse can leave the room, the nurse may succeed in administering the medications; however, controlling behavior is confrontational because the nurse engages the patient in a power struggle and misses an opportunity to explore the patient's anger. Forcing the patient in this manner is unlikely to elicit patient cooperation in the future because the nurse has displayed a lack of caring and respect.