A nurse routinely uses therapeutic touch when caring for postoperative

A nurse routinely uses therapeutic touch when caring for postoperative clients with incisional pain. Occasionally a client will show reluctance when the intervention is offered. The nurse’s best response in such a situation is to:

1. Research for alternative interventions that will be better received by the client
2. Suggest that the client allow the intervention just once before making a final deci-sion
3. Respect the client’s wishes and rely on pain medication to help with managing the pain
4. Inform the client that the intervention has been found to be effective during sev-eral research projects

ANSWER

ANS: 1
Evidence-based practice is a problem-solving approach to clinical practice that integrates the conscientious use of best evidence in combination with a clinician’s expertise and client prefer-ences and values in making decisions about client care. If the client is not receptive to an inter-vention, the best nursing response is to search for an alternative evidence-based therapy that the client will accept.
Suggesting the client allow intervention once before making a decision may be considered as long as there is no pressure placed on the client to accept the intervention, but it is not the best option provided because there is no guarantee that the client will be receptive to the intervention, and the problem regarding incisional pain would then go unaddressed.
While requesting the client’s wishes is not inappropriate, it does not address the issue of best ev-idence-based practice and so is not the best option available.
Informing the client that intervention has been effective in research may be considered as long as there is no pressure placed on the client to accept the intervention, but it is not the best option provided because there is no guarantee that the client will be receptive to the intervention, and the problem regarding incisional pain would then go unaddressed.