The health clinic nurse is interviewing a new patient. The nurse asks questions about the patient's self-care and about his healthcare providers. Which statement is likely to yield the most information from the patient regarding the use of CAM?

Question

a. "Many people go to a medical provider and other healers, as well. Please tell me about the practitioners and healers you use."
b. "Some people go to both medical and nonmedical providers for healthcare. Do you use both?"
c. "Many people only go to a medical physician. Tell me about the practitioners you see for healthcare."
d. "Some people go to different types of CAM healers. You don't use CAM, do you?"

Answer 1

A
For therapeutic questioning, the nurse should use open-ended questions to yield the most information. The question ending in "Do you use both?" is a yes/no question that will likely elicit very little information. Although the option ending in "Tell me about the practitioners you see for healthcare," seems open ended, the negative use of "only" ("only go to a medical physician") implies that there is not another acceptable answer, thus decreasing the information the patient may share. "You don't use CAM, do you?" is a negative, closed question. It suggests that the patient should answer "No," and almost certainly will elicit a one-word answer.