A rehab client has orders for active range of motion exercises to her

A rehab client has orders for active range of motion exercises to her shoulder following a stroke. The client doesn’t like to do these because they are uncomfortable and she can’t understand “what good they will do anyway.”

Which of the following statements by the nurse demonstrates the critical-thinking component of creativity?
1. “You’ll only get worse if you don’t do these exercises.”
2. “As soon as you get these into your routine, you’ll feel better.”
3. “Your physician wouldn’t have ordered these if they weren’t important.”
4. “Here’s a marker. See how many circles you can make on this board in 10 minutes.”

ANSWER

Correct Answer: 4
Rationale 1: Explaining the rationale for doing or not doing the exercises is not using creativity. It is merely explaining the reason.
Rationale 2: This shows no creativity but merely dismissing the client’s concerns and feelings.
Rationale 3: This doesn’t show any creativity but merely dismisses the client’s feelings.
Rationale 4: Making the exercise routine into something more–like a game, or drawing a picture, or even “decorating the walls,” for example–would raise a challenge to the client, take the focus off the why, and still achieve the end result.