A client is scheduled for cardiac surgery. The nurse is conducting a s

A client is scheduled for cardiac surgery. The nurse is conducting a sexual history and is told that he is nervous about resuming sexual activities. The nurse uses therapeutic communication with the client when responding:

1. “You can have sexual intercourse after your surgery, but there are serious risks.”
2. “Your partner will be nervous about resuming sexual activities, but that is only normal.”
3. “Don’t worry. In about 2 months you will be able to return to your normal sexual patterns.”
4. “You are expressing a very normal concern, Perhaps we could discuss your feel-ings further.”

ANSWER

ANS: 4
Open communication and positive self-esteem, such as explaining that their concern is very nor-mal and offering to discuss further are essential factors in effectively resolving concerns. Telling the client that there are serious risks may only worry the client more. Stating that the client’s partner will be nervous about resuming sexual activities does not focus on the client and, there-fore, does not encourage the client to express his concerns. Telling the client not to worry is non-therapeutic. At this point, not even knowing the outcome of the surgery, the nurse should not predict resumption of sexual activity for the client. Furthermore, this response does not encour-age the client to communicate his feelings.