A male elder who wears a hearing aid waits in the radiology ...

[littleanan]

A male elder who wears a hearing aid waits in the radiology department. The department is busy and noisy, so the nurse asks the patient if he wants to wait or reschedule the ap-pointment.
 
  Which is the most important strategy for the nurse to implement for effective communication with this man? a. Face the man while sitting at his level.
  b. Speak to him in a private, quiet setting.
  c. Verify that the information is understood.
  d. Ask if hearing is better in one ear or another.

Question 2

An older man who has osteoarthritis (OA) tells the nurse that he has experienced fatigue for the past 2 weeks. Which nursing intervention should the nurse implement to help him manage his fatigue?
 
  a. Recommend an antidepressant.
  b. Help him plan exercise and rest.
  c. Plan two or three naps every day.
  d. Tell him the fatigue is due to his OA.

[Meganchabluk]

Answer to Question 1

B

Feedback
A Incorrect. This is a reasonable strategy to use and should facilitate communica-tion with this man; however, the nurse's position can be irrelevant if the noise level is too high and the message is difficult to hear.
B Correct. Although the elder wears a hearing aid, the nurse speaks to the elder in a quiet location. Reducing the ambient noise facilitates communication because it can interfere with the hearing of a person with a hearing loss. In addition, some hearing aids function poorly with high levels of ambient noise.
C Incorrect. Verifying information is a reasonable strategy for a person with a hearing impairment, but if the elder simply cannot hear the message, the nurse fails in communicating effectively.
D Incorrect. This is also a reasonable strategy for an elder with a hearing impair-ment but not the most important one for this elder.

Answer to Question 2

B
With no clues about the cause of the fatigue, the nurse helps this older adult balance exercise and rest to help alleviate fatigue. The fatigue can be due to decreased physical activity that, in turn, is due to pain from the OA, in which case a balance of exercise and rest should help attenuate the effects of the pain from the OA. This older adult has no indicators of depression except for fati-gue. Although a balance of rest and exercise can help relieve depressive symptoms, exercise is not an effective therapy for severe depression. Decreasing physical exercise is likely to contribute to fatigue and deconditioning. Fatigue is an unusual characteristic of OA.