The nurse provided a preschool-age child with instructions prior to having a surgical procedure. The parents of the child were in attendance, and the child was alert and participated in the education session

Question

During postoperative care, the child is unable to recall anything that was instructed. What does this finding suggest to the nurse about the communication process? A) The code was not received.
B) The feedback was not truthful.
C) The decoder did not receive the message.
D) The encoder failed to communicate the message.

Answer 1

C
Feedback:
There are several parts to the communication process. The encoder is the person delivering the message. The nurse was the encoder who provided teaching to the child. The code is the message being delivered. This was the teaching for the surgical procedure. Because the child was alert and participated in the education, it appears that the code was received. The decoder is the child. Because the child was unable to recall any of the teaching, it could be because of stress. Under stress, children tend to narrow their ability to receive information to a small area of concern. Children, who are extremely anxious, may not "hear" or be unable to interpret the message because of anxiety, even though excellent instructions were provided. Feedback is the reply the decoder returns to the sender to acknowledge the message has been received and interpreted. Because the child was alert and participated in the education, it is unlikely that the feedback was not truthful.