An older client who appears confused after discussing his new diagnosi

An older client who appears confused after discussing his new diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease shares with the nurse that, “I didn’t understand much of what you said.”

The nurse determines that the most likely cause of the client’s failure to understand is that:
1. The conversation included unfamiliar medical terminology
2. The client is in denial concerning the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease
3. The nurse’s choice of timing for the client education was poor
4. The etiology of the condition is too complicated for this client to understand

ANSWER

ANS: 1
Medical jargon (technical terminology used by health care providers) sounds like a foreign lan-guage to clients unfamiliar with the health care setting. Limiting use of medical jargon to conver-sations with other health team members will improve communication. The remaining options may have contributed to the problem, but the more common problem deals with inappropriate use of jargon.