Question

A nurse is preparing a client for discharge from the cardiac unit and observes cigarettes in the client's belongings. The nurse asks the client to consider her health and the health of her husband. This is an example of:

Answer 1

The nurse is engaging in patient education, advocating for changing discrepant behavior such as smoking cessation, and must balance providing evidence-based information while respecting the patient's values.

Step-by-step explanation:

A nurse educating a client on the health risks associated with smoking as they are discharged from a cardiac unit demonstrates the nurse's role in changing discrepant behavior, for instance, encouraging cessation of smoking. The act of advising the client to consider her health and the health of her husband underscores the professional responsibility of healthcare providers in promoting disease prevention and discouraging behaviors that increase health risks, such as smoking. Healthcare professionals must balance this responsibility with respecting the patient's cultural and personal values, providing information and support to facilitate informed decision-making about their health behaviors.

During this interaction, a nurse may also confront common rationalizations that clients might use to justify their smoking habits, such as believing that filtered cigarettes reduce health risks or that smoking has beneficial effects like appetite suppression. Such cognitive dissonance must be addressed with evidence-based information, as exemplified by the historical case-control study by Doll and Hill, which found a clear association between smoking and lung cancer.

Educating patients about the risks of smoking is not about imposing a moral agenda but about advocating for practical disease prevention. It involves providing accurate health information while respecting patients' autonomy and personal beliefs.