The nurse admits the client, who has chest pain, from the emergency department. Which should the nurse implement to gain client cooperation during a physical assessment?

Question

1. Explain the procedure and its purpose.
2. Perform assessment in stages over the day.
3. Complete assessment within 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Assess painful areas before nontender areas.

Answer 1

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1. The client is much more likely to cooperate during a physical assessment if the client knows what to expect, the purpose of the procedure, and that the procedure is for the client's benefit. The nurse explains how the nurses use the information to plan individualized nursing care; the information helps make the client feel valued and important because the nurse engages the client in the plan of care. In addition, the nurse reassures the client about maintaining privacy.
2. The nurse completes the assessment in as few stages as possible because the nurse needs the assessment data to plan care. Today, clients are more acutely ill and have shorter lengths of stay, so the nurse needs to implement care quickly to help restore health and well-being, especially for a client who has a potentially life-threatening problem. Moreover, because clients are sicker today, the client condition can change rapidly, making the assessment data history before it is completed.
3. Although the nurse assesses the client efficiently, the nurse plans more than 5 mi-nutes to complete an assessment to provide enough time for the nurse to cover every topic and the client to respond to questions.
4. The nurse assesses painful and tender areas first because, if the nurse triggers pain in the client, the nurse potentially must stop the assessment and provide pain man-agement. Assessment data are vital to manage pain successfully; the nurse wants to complete the assessment for expediency but also to fulfill ethical duty to the client to cause no harm.