asking questions for therapeutic communication(admissions)

[koosneypeter]

hey im a male nursing student and one of the subjects is therapeutic (I've typed that word so much i actually know how to spell it.... im worried now) communication and my oscar is comming up in a month around the 15th of june, and we need to have open ended questions to ask (we need to know them off by heart) but al of my questions are either leading or closed, and im stumped on it there has to be two questions fro each topic and i know the questions are not correct or isnt open enough and i was wondering if you could push me in the right way?

the questions are listed below (the bold text is the topic for each questions):

Perception of health

Can you tell me what you believe is going to happen in your admission today?

Have you had any previous admission to hospital?

Current health status

How would u rate you current health on a scale of 1-10? Why?

Have there been any abnormalities in your health recently?

Sleep/rest habits

Do you have any problems with sleep at night? Such as waking up restless during the night? Or waking up with sore muscles?

Do you have any difficulties in falling to sleep?

Elimination

Do you feel any discomfort when using the toilet?

Have u noticed any abnormalities in you urine or stool?

Activities of daily living?

How do you feel when mobilising at home, or performing physical tasks such as cleaning and personal hygiene?

Do you feel any abnormalities when performing daily activities?

Social

What do you enjoy doing during you personal time?

Are you always aware of personal safety during your personal time?

Nutritional/Diet

How many meals do have on a daily basis?

How would you say how healthy you diet is?, why?

i would greatly appreciate any help on this ive just hit a dead end wall.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

perception of health

can you tell me what you believe is going to happen in your admission today?

have you had any previous admission to hospital?

tell me why your doctor is having you admitted to the hospital today.

what did you do prior to today's admission in an attempt to correct this problem?

what other health problems have you had in the past?

current health status

how would u rate you current health on a scale of 1-10? why?

have there been any abnormalities in your health recently?

tell me about the other medical problems you have/ have and what you have been doing for them.

what medications are you taking and are you allergic to any medications or foods?

sleep/rest habits

do you have any problems with sleep at night? such as waking up restless during the night? or waking up with sore muscles?

do you have any difficulties in falling to sleep?

tell me about your sleep. how many hours a night do you sleep? is this uninterrupted sleep?

how many pillows do you use? is your positioning important?

elimination

do you feel any discomfort when using the toilet?

have u noticed any abnormalities in you urine or stool?

describe for me how often and any problems you have with urination or having a bowel movement.

do you use any medications and treatments to help you urinate or have a bm?

activities of daily living?

how do you feel when mobilising at home, or performing physical tasks such as cleaning and personal hygiene?

do you feel any abnormalities when performing daily activities?

describe to me your level of physically activity during a typical day.

are you satisfied with it? do you think it could be better? has it changed recently?

social

what do you enjoy doing during you personal time?

are you always aware of personal safety during your personal time?

tell me what you do to occupy your time when you are alone and by yourself.

tell me about your family and friends and how they feel about your health.

nutritional/diet

how many meals do have on a daily basis?

how would you say how healthy you diet is?, why?

describe for me what types of food you eat on a typical day.

do you have any difficulty with eating or preparing your food?

sites where you can see examples of gordon's functional needs questions are:

• http://home.hiwaay.net/~theholt1/nurs1100/class5.htm
  
• http://gemini.utb.edu/nurs3606_84/box%206-1.pdf - form
  
• http://www.csi.edu/ip/nursing/faculty/vwarner/careplan.doc - form for assessing the 11 functional health patterns for a general medical patient
  

[MattiesMama]

Honestly it seems like you are overthinking it...stop driving yourself crazy with "open" vs. "closed" questions, and just imagine having an actual conversation with a patient.

Asking things like "How do you feel when mobilising at home, or performing physical tasks such as cleaning and personal hygiene?" Is way too technical. You can't assume that the patient knows terms like "mobilizing" and "hygiene" even if they may be basic to you. So before you begin, you need to establish their level of education, and if they have any language barriers, or if they have any physical problems that might impact their ability to understand you (like hearing problems or dementia). Take the age of the patient into mind too...a lot of elderly people (and children for that matter) have difficulty with compound questions, so ask them one at a time...I would ask questions like "do you have any trouble getting around your house? Have you had any falls in the past month? Is it hard for you to take a shower or bath on your own? Who helps you with that?" I know some of those are technically closed questions, but you can always ask them to elaborate...I usually start by asking really simple questions, and then by judging their response (like if they speak slowly, seem confused, have a thick accent, what kind of vocabulary they use, etc.) I can figure out the best way to proceed with the line of questions.

I would also avoid using medical terms like "stool", and even things like "muscle soreness" and "abnormalities" can be confusing, because the patient doesn't necessarily know that their pain is caused by sore muscles, and what you would consider abnormal might be a condition they have had all their lives so they wouldn't think to mention it...

Just always remember that you are talking to a human being. You get the best assessment when you treat your patient like you are a peer, even friend they can open up to, at least in my experience.

Hope that helps!