The aims and objectives of this assignment are to select a patient that I have cared for with complex health care needs and identify one aspect of patient education he/she requires

I was introduced to the client, a woman of approximately 40 years of age, and her permission was given for me to use this assessment for the purpose of my study. The client in this assignment will be referred to as "Mrs X" - a pseudonym, in order to protect her real identity. For the purpose of confidentiality, this is also a requirement of the Nursing and Midwifery Code of Professional Practice (2002).

Mrs X is a newly diagnosed patient with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma who is still coming to terms with her illness and has been admitted to hospital for a course of chemotherapy treatment. Mrs X wants to know as much as possible about her treatments and any side effects that she will or may entail.

Before I could identify any aspect of learning for Mrs X I needed to complete a thorough assessment. A patient assessment according to Basford and Slevin (1995) is a carefully thought out approach to gathering information and its analysis.

Patient Recognition Month Poster

Diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

FEMA Sanctioned Medical Specialist Course - Dec 20...

This is important as without it I will not be able to interpret what needs to be learned and why (Ewles & Sinett 2003). The simplest way to find out what someone needs to know is to ask them (Kiger 2004), so during the nursing assessment I encouraged Mrs X to ask any questions or concerns that she might have. Mrs X seemed to open up more after this and expressed that she would like to find out more about the side effects of chemotherapy. I was happy with the assessment and would use the same approach again. Having established a good rapport, I invited questions and input from the patient. Good communication skills are an important part of the nurse client relationship, in as much as when two people offer their names they are...