Situational Nursing Mock Interview
Practice 50 Situational Nursing interview questions covering clinical judgment, patient safety, and critical response scenarios.
Question 41 of 50
During your shift in the ER, a patient presents with bruising from a fall. Her male companion answers questions for her, and she barely gives eye contact. What do you do in this situation to get the patient to answer independently?
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Dianne Barnard is a Registered Nurse and former nursing instructor. She is also board certified in Psychiatric Nursing and Holistic Nursing Critical Care.
Sometimes a domestic abuse victim's only connection to help might be a trip to the ER or urgent care. All patients should be screened for abuse whether man, woman, or child. A nurse needs to know the warning signs and learn how to assess and ask effective questions. The nurse needs to learn how to optimize the interview and assessment so that the patient (man, woman, or child) can express themselves in a safe space. In the above scenario, the nurse needs to separate the woman safely from the man, so that she can ask if the woman feels safe and assess her for abuse.
It may be difficult to separate the individual from the companion, but it's best they be separated, as the potential abuse victim may not speak openly in front of the abuser.
Dianne Barnard is a Registered Nurse and former nursing instructor. She is also board certified in Psychiatric Nursing and Holistic Nursing Critical Care.
"I would need to separate the potential abuse victim from the abuser, though I understand that it may be difficult. I could ask him to leave the room for the assessment and if he balked, I would probably take her to the bathroom for a urine sample to ask her questions. I would be careful not to judge or prejudge the situation, but I would do what I needed to do to assess the potential abuse victim thoroughly. I definitely would seek guidance from my shift leadership."
"It's possible that this patient is the victim of abuse. In order to make sure the patient can give honest answers about what caused her injury, I would ask the companion to leave the room so I can complete my assessment. If the companion refuses, I can explain that I need to get a urine sample from the patient and escort the patient to the bathroom so that we can talk privately. If the patient or companion refuses this as well, I would talk to my charge nurse about what other actions I can take."
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Anonymous Answer
I would separate the patient from the boyfriend. If the boyfriend is tough to separate often I'd be like let me take you to the women's bathroom we need a sample. Ask if she feels safe at home, we had these SMART cards we could give women that were super non-descript looked like a gift card but had a helpline phone number. Let her know we are here to help her and it's a safe space.
Cindy's Feedback
Good. Again, context would help. What is your theory about the situation that makes your actions understandable?
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