A client who is thinking of cancelling surgery
IENCAP OSCE practice station
Patient communication · 2 min to read · 13 min to perform
Respond to her concerns and decide what to do.
Mei-Ling ChenI think I want to go home. I cannot do this tomorrow.
Free · no sign-up · uses your one free station
Open the full station (charts, voice, result letter) →The task
You are the nurse on a surgical unit in Ontario. Mei-Ling Chen, aged 45, is booked for gallbladder surgery tomorrow morning. She has just told a colleague she is thinking of cancelling and she has asked to speak with a nurse. No other staff are present. Introduce yourself and talk with her. Use therapeutic communication to understand what is troubling her. Respond to her concerns and decide what to do. Record the conversation and your follow-up in the note provided.
What this station tests
- Sit down, give time and start with open questions.
- Name and validate the feeling before offering solutions.
- Avoid false reassurance. Honest information and arranging the right clinician is better.
- Respect that the decision belongs to the client and she may not be pressured.
- Escalate unmet information needs, such as an anesthetic visit, before the day of surgery.
Sources for the clinical content
- College of Nurses of Ontario: Professional Boundaries and Nurse-Client Relationships
- College of Nurses of Ontario: Consent practice guideline
An original practice scenario with invented patients. Not an exam question.