A patient needs to make several challenging life changes to cope with a serious chronic illness. Instead of teaching the patient, the nurse spends time visiting with the patient and inquiring about family life, work, and hobbies

Question

When a new nurse asks the reason for "wasting so much time" with the patient, the first nurse explains, a. "All patients like to feel important and that you are interested in them."
b. "I like to establish rapport first before just jumping in and teaching."
c. "Knowing more about the patient informs me about possible motivators."
d. "When patients view you as friendly, they are more likely to respond."

Answer 1

C
Motivation can be a very powerful tool to encourage a patient to make desired behavior changes. For instance, if a patient with a serious chronic illness wants to participate in activities with his or her children, this could serve as a motivation to stay well and out of the hospital, which uses time, money, and other resources that could be instead applied toward the desired activity. The motivation for learning can be powerful and should be harnessed to enhance learning.
It may be true that patients like nurses to be interested in them, but this it is not related to an educational purpose.
Establishing rapport is very important in all nurse–patient relationships, but this is not the best answer for this question.
Although it is true that being friendly is more likely to cause patients to respond, this is not the best answer to this question.