English for Nursing 2

Topic 3

SHARING OBSERVATION

Instructional objective
The students are expected to be able to act out a conversation of helping a patient in
identifying his health problem(s).

A nurse can make observations by commenting on how the patient looks, sounds, or
acts. Observations about the appearance, manner, or behavior of patients can help draw
attention to areas that might pose a problem for them. For examples, a nurse says, “You
look tired” or “I haven’t seen you eating anything today”. Observing that they look tired
may prompt patients to explain why they haven’t been getting much sleep lately.
Meanwhile, making an observation that they haven’t been eating much may lead to the
discovery of a new symptom.
Glossaries
Observation (n) : the condition of one that is observed
Symptom (n) : subjective evidence of disease or physical disturbance

Related Vocabularies
Direction. Study the following vocabularies of health problems and practice the pronunciation.
Accomplish the sound of some words in blanks by searching independently.
 Pale /peil/ (adj)  Reddish /redisy/ (adj)
 Tense /tens/ (adj)  Yellowish /yelowisy/ (adj)
 Painful /peinful/ (adj)  Suffocate /safokeit/ (v)
 Sallow /selou/ (adj)  Daydream /deydri:m/ (v, n)
 Papery /............../ (adj)  Gasp /gesp/ (v, n)
 Tired / ............. / (adj)  Moan /............../ (v, n)
 Rigid /rijid/ (adj)  Groan /............../ (v, n)
 Swollen /.............../ (adj)  Bruise /............../ (v, n)
 Tender /.............../ (adj, v, n)  Comfortable /..................../ (adj)
 Afraid of / .................../ (adj)  Uncomfortable /...................../ (adj)

Useful Expressions
Direction. Study the following useful expressions of sharing observation and practice them.
 You look ....  You look pale.
 You look stiff.

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  You seem uncomfortable when ....  You seem uncomfortable when walking.
 You seem uncomfortable when moving
your arms.
 You seem to have problem with ....  You seem to have problem with your leg.
 You seem to have problem with your
shoulder.
 Your .... look(s) ....  Your eyes look reddish.
 Your face looks pale.
 Your neck looks tense.

Integrated Listening and Speaking Exercise

Direction. Accomplish the following conversation then act out the dialogue.
Situation: in an outpatient clinic

Nurse : (1)........................................
Patient : It started yesterday after swimming in the beach. I didn’t apply any
lotion over my skin. My skin is very sensitive to sunshine.
Nurse : Would you tell me how you feel now?
Patient : Yes. I feel hot and tender around my arm and my back.
Nurse : (2).................................................. Let us consult to your doctor.
Patient : Thank you.

Nursing Communication Practice

Direction. Work in pair to write a conversation scenario on the topic of ‘Sharing Observation’. Practice
the conversation together. You are not allowed to read aloud the scenario.

Nursing Documentation
Direction. Write a nursing documentation after observing a patient’s condition. You can fill the following
form.
NURSING DOCUMENTATION

I. Patient’s identity
Name : Address :

Sex : male/female*
Age : Phone number :
Observation Results:

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