Assessing readiness to learn

[mspontiac]

Hello all! Thanks in advance for taking a look at my question and offering help. I am in my second semester of nursing school, and we are preparing for an oral exam on patient education. In a nutshell, we have four different scenarios that we "act out" with our instructor pretending to be the patient. In one scenario, the pt. is POD 1 from an ORIF of his right femur. He is in great pain and refuses to use his IS or ambulate and only wants to sleep.

I am confused about how to approach him; obviously he isn't ready to learn. I plan to assess his pain, and begin steps to get that under control. But my question is, would we forge ahead with educating this pt on how important the IS and ambulation are, despite the fact that he probably wouldn't be listening, or leave him until his pain is better controlled and return later? I know that the faster we get him deep breathing and moving the faster he will heal.

Thank you!

[sunflower1000]

hi, i think you should educate the patient on why is so important to do the is and ambulate in order to recover and ultimately feel better. you can explain to the patient that the doctor can prescribe pain medication to help with the pain if needed.