Teaching the Client to Take a Radial Pulse

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I chose to write my teaching-learning paper on how to take a radial pulse. I knew “Nurses are involved in client education to promote wellness, prevent or diagnose illness early, restore optimal health & function if illness has occurred, and assist clients and families to cope with alterations in health status.” (Craven & Hirnle, 2008, p. 347) However, I had to come up with a reason for choosing how to take a radial pulse. I know in the field the client would already have the needs to learn, so I asked my client. I approached the client and asked him to give me a reason why he wanted to learn to take a radial pulse. His first reaction was “Can I use it to find out if someone is dead?” He said this smiling with a smirk of pure mischievous motives. Shaking my head, I told the client “Yes, but really, give me a reason.” He followed up with “Well, I can get information together to see how I can build an exercise regimen. Don’t I need to know how to do that for exercising?” After explaining to him that yes, you need to reach a target heart rate where you know you are burning calories at best we both decided we discovered our goal for this project.

“The teaching-learning process empowers client to achieve increased wellness or to manage specific healthcare needs.” (C raven & Hirnle, 2008, p.345) Knowing this, I had discovered my goal for the client as well.

Before beginning the teaching progress I need to learn about my client’s learning needs. “Determine what the client needs to know or do to function more independently” (Craven & Hirnle, 2008, p. 348). The best ways to gather information about your client is to ask your client. Therefore, I had asked my client what he knew about taking a radial pulse. His reply was “I only k...

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...necting to your client and understanding their needs before pressing your teaching upon them. No client is willing to learn from someone who is in a hurry and just passing information like it is a voting pamphlet. Every client must be reached on their level to meet their concerns and their needs.

Works Cited

Carpenito-Moyet, L.J. (2010). Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis 13th Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Craven, R.F., & Hirnle, C.J. (2008). Fundamentals of Nursing: Human Health and Function 6th Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

D’Amico, Med, RN, D, & Barbarito, EdD, RN, C. (2007). Health & Physical Assessment in Nursing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..

Smith, L. (2003). Help! My patient's illiterate. Nursing, 33(11 Part 1), 32hn6. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

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