Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Adult Health and Nutritional Assessment Related

Review Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Adult Health and Nutritional Assessment related questions and content

The nurse is performing an admission assessment of a 72-year-old female patient who understands minimal English. An interpreter who speaks the patients language is unavailable and no members of the care team speak the language. How should the nurse best perform data collection?

  • A. Have a family member provide the data.
  • B. Obtain the data from the old chart and physicians assessment.
  • C. Obtain the data only from the patient, prioritizing aspects that the patient understands.
  • D. Collect all possible data from the patient and have the family supplement missing details.
Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The informant, or the person providing the information, may not always be the patient. The nurse can gain information from the patient and have the family provide any missing details. The nurse should always obtain as much information as possible directly from the patient. In this case, it is not likely possible to get all the information needed only from the patient.