This document contains the script for a nurse-patient interaction as part of a health assessment. The nurse, Sarah, conducts an assessment of a patient, David Flores, who has come in for a checkup due to joint pain. Sarah takes David's medical history and vital signs, discusses his general health, diet, social activities and sun protection habits. She notes he is overweight and advises changes to his diet and alcohol intake. Sarah also schedules a skin check and refers David to resources on heart health. They discuss his joint pain symptoms to help determine the cause.

1. Assessment 3: Health Assessment
Professional Communication in Nursing 2019:
History for Nurse and Patient Interaction –
Health Assessment
Scenario 3
Patient 3: History for Nurse and Patient Interaction – Health
Assessment
Student (Community – Registered Nurse): Use professional
nursing communication
with the patient to conduct a 10 minute health assessment video
interview taking into
account the following:
• Introduction – nurse and patient
• Situation – reasons for assessment, allergies, and relevant
personal details
• Background – health history, general health and psychosocial
status
• Assessment – observations, nutrition/diet, exercise, lifestyle,
health beliefs and
values, and cultural/spiritual/religious practices
• Recommendation – confirm health assessment information and
implications for
well-being, recommend changes to manage and improve health
and suggest
timeframes for any plans

2. Assessor (Patient – Chester Abioye): You are cooperative, alert
and orientated. You
are willing to provide all requested information. You like to ask
general questions of the
nurse related to the health assessment and like to know your
observations and if they are
within normal limits. You are open to discuss ways to improve
your health through
possible changes to your diet, exercise, daily habits, and
lifestyle choices.
STUDENT (General Practitioner’s Office – REGISTERED
NURSE)
Scenario 3: Patient- Chester Abioye
Chester has come to see a Registered Nurse at his General
Practitioner’s Office for
a health assessment. Chester is not very active and feels stress
and lonely living
Australia without his family. He has suffered from depression in
the past and wants
to improve his health through regular exercise, eating well and
by making positive
changes to his lifestyle.
Chester Abioye: Male, height 187 cm; weight 73kg (BMI =
20.9). BP 118/ 70,
HR 86, RR 22, temperature 37.0 C, SaO2 99% on room air.
Assessment 3: Health Assessment
Professional Communication in Nursing 2019:
History for Nurse and Patient Interaction –
Health Assessment

3. ASSESSOR (PATIENT )
Scenario 3 Patient 3- Chester Abioye
Biodata
• Chester is a 19 year old man (DOB-14th January 2000) and
lives at 97 Leafy
Avenue, Broadfields, 2173 in a share house with 4 other people.
• Chester has a girlfriend that lives in Melbourne who is
planning to move to
Broadfields later in the year to be closer to him.
• Chester regularly smokes about a packet (30 cigarettes per
day).
• Chester often drinks up to 6 to 10 standard drinks (beer and
spirits) when he
catches up with two of his friends once a month.
• Chester was born in Zambia and came to Australia to
commence a law degree
but only did 1 year of the degree because he did not enjoy the
course. He is now
working at Aldi in the storeroom. He often volunteers to work
overtime to save
money to send back to his family.
• Chester mostly stays at home watching television. He rarely
exercises because he
finds it boring. He does enjoy emailing and talking to his
girlfriend and family on
the computer when he can.
• Chester says he is no good in the kitchen. He mainly eats rice,

4. bread and meat.
Sometimes he buys vegetables to include in a meal.
• Chester doesn’t like wearing a hat or using sun block when he
does go outside.
• Chester does not follow any religion.
Assessment 3: Health Assessment
Professional Communication in Nursing 2019:
History for Nurse and Patient Interaction –
Health Assessment
Scenario 3
Patient 3: History for Nurse and Patient Interaction – Health
Assessment
Student (Community – Registered Nurse): Use professional
nursing communication
with the patient to conduct a 10 minute health assessment video
interview taking into
account the following:
• Introduction – nurse and patient
• Situation – reasons for assessment, allergies, and relevant
personal details
• Background – health history, general health and psychosocial
status
• Assessment – observations, nutrition/diet, exercise, lifestyle,
health beliefs and

5. values, and cultural/spiritual/religious practices
• Recommendation – confirm health assessment information and
implications for
well-being, recommend changes to manage and improve health
and suggest
timeframes for any plans
Assessor (Patient – Chester Abioye): You are cooperative, alert
and orientated. You
are willing to provide all requested information. You like to ask
general questions of the
nurse related to the health assessment and like to know your
observations and if they are
within normal limits. You are open to discuss ways to improve
your health through
possible changes to your diet, exercise, daily habits, and
lifestyle choices.
STUDENT (General Practitioner’s Office – REGISTERED
NURSE)
Scenario 3: Patient- Chester Abioye
Chester has come to see a Registered Nurse at his General
Practitioner’s Office for
a health assessment. Chester is not very active and feels stress
and lonely living
Australia without his family. He has suffered from depression in
the past and wants
to improve his health through regular exercise, eating well and
by making positive
changes to his lifestyle.
Chester Abioye: Male, height 187 cm; weight 73kg (BMI =
20.9). BP 118/ 70,
HR 86, RR 22, temperature 37.0 C, SaO2 99% on room air.

6. Assessment 3: Health Assessment
Professional Communication in Nursing 2019:
History for Nurse and Patient Interaction –
Health Assessment
ASSESSOR (PATIENT )
Scenario 3 Patient 3- Chester Abioye
Biodata
• Chester is a 19 year old man (DOB-14th January 2000) and
lives at 97 Leafy
Avenue, Broadfields, 2173 in a share house with 4 other people.
• Chester has a girlfriend that lives in Melbourne who is
planning to move to
Broadfields later in the year to be closer to him.
• Chester regularly smokes about a packet (30 cigarettes per
day).
• Chester often drinks up to 6 to 10 standard drinks (beer and
spirits) when he
catches up with two of his friends once a month.
• Chester was born in Zambia and came to Australia to
commence a law degree
but only did 1 year of the degree because he did not enjoy the
course. He is now
working at Aldi in the storeroom. He often volunteers to work
overtime to save
money to send back to his family.

7. • Chester mostly stays at home watching television. He rarely
exercises because he
finds it boring. He does enjoy emailing and talking to his
girlfriend and family on
the computer when he can.
• Chester says he is no good in the kitchen. He mainly eats rice,
bread and meat.
Sometimes he buys vegetables to include in a meal.
• Chester doesn’t like wearing a hat or using sun block when he
does go outside.
• Chester does not follow any religion.
Nurse-patient interaction script
Use the following script to guide your interaction with your
patient for Assignment 3. Note that the
items within [square brackets] indicate where non-verbal
communication is being used.
You may also refer to Table 2.3 (p. 19) in Critical
Conversations for Patient Safety (Levett-Jones,
2014) which provides verbal and nonverbal communication
techniques as well as contextual
examples. Try to incorporate some of these techniques, as
appropriate, into your patient
interview.
The interview

8. Nurse Sarah Percy: Good morning Mr Flores my name is Sarah
and I’ll be the nurse doing your
health assessment today. How are you?
[Sarah is smiling and looking at Mr Flores]
Mr Flores: Hi, Sarah, nice to meet you. I’m doing well, thank
you.
Nurse Sarah Percy: That’s great! Are you ready to get started?
Mr Flores: Sure. Let’s go.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Let’s go into this office, it’s nice and quiet.
Please have a seat.
[Sarah indicates the chair nearby]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Is the chair comfortable?
Mr Flores: Yes. Thank you.
Nurse Sarah Percy: I have to ask you some personal details and
record them for our files. We keep
them confidential. Is that ok with you?
Mr Flores: Yes. No problems.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Great. Are you ready to begin the
assessment?
Mr Flores: Yes.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Good. Thank you. Let’s get started. Can
you please tell me your full name and
date of birth?

9. Mr Flores: David Flores, the 4th September 1952.
Nurse Sarah Percy: [Repeats details] And your address please?
Mr Flores: Flat 20/ 541 Pacific Highway, Morningside, New
South Wales 2098
Nurse Sarah Percy: [Repeats details] Do you have a phone
number?
Mr Flores: Yes, just a mobile. The number is 04788960123.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you have any allergies?
Mr Flores: I’m allergic to strawberries. They give me an itchy
rash. No strawberry ice cream for me.
https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781488617690/pageid/37
[Mr Flores laughs]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Oh dear that sounds nasty. So you have to
stick to chocolate. That’s not so bad.
[Sarah smiles at Mr Flores] That’s great information thank you.
I see that you have come in today for
a check-up because of joint pain?
Mr Flores: Yes, I am not as young as I once was. And I have to
admit I’m a bit overweight and I’m
having some pain in my joints. I play a lot of golf and like to
stay active. So I thought I’d have a health
check-up.
Nurse Sarah Percy: It is a good idea to have a check-up. Now

10. you are getting older may be think
about having a check-up once a year. But let’s see what we can
help with today. I see that your
observations have been taken and that your temperature is
normal, at 36.7 Celsius. Your pulse is in
the acceptable range, at 78 beats per minute, and your oxygen
saturation in your blood is very good,
at 98%. You mentioned that you are worried about your weight
and this joint pain?
Mr Flores: That’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Are you generally happy with your well-
being otherwise?
Mr Flores: I’m a pretty happy person with a great family and
lots of friends so my retirement from
work is going great.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you play golf? How many times a week?
Mr Flores: I love golf. It keeps me active now I’m retired. I
play competition with my friends. We
usually have a lunch and a few drinks after the game. I practice
every day for about an hour –
walking the course and hitting around. I play competition on
Monday and Saturday. I’m quite good
[Mr Flores smiles] and win a prize most weeks.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Wow you do play a lot. [Sarah smiles] So it
keeps you in contact with your friends
and you have a good time together?
Mr Flores: Yes, there is always something on at the club and I
take my wife along most Fridays for
the Bistro and some dancing. We do that if we aren’t minding

11. the grandchildren.
Nurse Sarah Percy: That sounds lovely. So you live with your
wife?
Mr Flores: Yes, we own our own home in Morningside. We’ve
been married for 40 years now, and
have two children and two grandchildren. They all come to visit
us once a month and stay the night.
Our place is big enough to fit them all.
Nurse Sarah Percy: What a nice way to keep the family
together. Do you need help around the
house at all?
Mr Flores: We have a cleaner once a week and a gardener once
a week. We’ll probably down size to
a retirement village in the next couple of years.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, so you live with your wife in a pretty
large house but have help with the
chores, and the family all come to visit once a month? Have I
understood that right?
Mr Flores: Yes, that’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Sounds like you are pretty active and social.
Are you religious? Do you attend a
church?
Mr Flores: No, we don’t go to church any more. We are
Catholic and go to Mass at Christmas time
but that’s all. We go mostly for the grandchildren they have live
animals and do the Christmas story.

12. [Mr Flores smiles]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Christmas is a good time of year to go to
church. Apart from the joint pain you
are experiencing do you have any other health concerns? Do you
smoke or drink?
Mr Flores: I’m a little overweight but I don’t smoke. I do have a
couple of beers after I play golf and I
sneak some hot chips in as well. I look forward to that.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So how may beers would you drink a day?
Mr Flores: Probably three to four
Nurse Sarah Percy: And the hot chips?
Mr Flores: Well, I might get two serves after golf if I’m hungry
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you eat a lot of fried food?
Mr Flores: Come to think of it, we probably fry a lot of our
meals: steak, fish, and chicken.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you eat fruit and vegetables as well?
Mr Flores: I like mashed potato and peas. I like bananas but not
much other fruit.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you have mashed potato and peas every
night because you like it?
Mr Flores: Yes. I suppose its habit now.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay. I’ve had a look at your Body Mass
Index and for your height (180

13. centimetres) and weight (90 kilograms), your BMI is 27.8 which
means that you are overweight. At
this stage you blood pressure is within the acceptable range of
135/70; however, we should
probably look at a healthier diet for you to lessen your chances
of heart problems or diabetes. How
does that sound to you?
Mr Flores: That sounds good.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay. In regards to your diet, you should try
to eliminate, or lessen, the amount
of fried foods. Can you grill or BBQ meat, fish and chicken?
Also, you should eat some salads and
different vegetables rather than mashed potato each night.
Potato has a lot of carbohydrates and
when you add butter and milk the calories are very high.
Tomatoes and cucumber are great in a
salad do you like the sound of that?
Mr Flores: That sounds fine.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Your alcohol intake adds calories as well
and the amount you are drinking is over
the recommended daily intake of two standard drinks a day.
That could affect your liver function
over time and add to your weight. A standard drink of beer has
10 grams of alcohol for beer. A
middy is 1.1 standard drinks. Do you think you could try light
beer or quenching your thirst with cold
water before having a beer?
Mr Flores: That sounds reasonable. I’d not thought about how
thirsty I am after golf. I try cutting
back to one light beer per day.

14. Nurse Sarah Percy: As to your snack after golf, you could try a
small handful of nuts or bringing a
piece of fruit from home. Maybe an apple or an orange? Would
that work for you?
Mr Flores: I can certainly try. Maybe I could freeze the orange
in summer, so it’s cold. Thanks for
that information.
Nurse Sarah Percy: My pleasure. The Heart Foundation web site
has some good and helpful
suggestions and I also have a brochure for you if you would like
one.
Mr Flores: Great! Can l have the brochure and the web address
please?
Nurse Sarah Percy: The other thing I’m worried about is: do you
wear sunscreen or a hat when you
are out playing golf?
Mr Flores: I don’t wear sun screen but I probably should.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Well to protect yourself from developing
skin cancer you really should and also
wear a long sleeve SPF shirt and sun glasses. Have you had a
skin check?
Mr Flores: I have sunglasses and I’ll get some sunscreen. The
golf shop does has some hats that look
good. I’ll try some on this afternoon. I have never had my skin
checked though, Sarah.
Nurse Sarah Percy: We should make an appointment with the

15. skin clinic for a skin check. Is this
afternoon okay with you?
Mr Flores: Yes. I am free this afternoon.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, let’s get back to that joint pain. What
joints do you feel it in?
Mr Flores: in the shoulders and knees mostly. Sometimes I can’t
straighten my legs and I have
trouble getting into the car.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you experience pain in shoulders and
knees and you have difficulty
straightening your leg and getting into the car sometimes?
Mr Flores: That’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Have you been assessed by your doctor and
do you take anything for the pain?
Mr Flores: Yes. The doctor said I have some age-related
arthritis. I take Panadol sometimes.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you only take the Panadol sometimes?
Mr Flores: Yes, I don’t like taking tablets if I don’t have to.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Does anything else you have tried help with
the pain?
Mr Flores: I have a hot pack I heat up in the microwave that I
use every day.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So it must be quite painful if you use the
heat pack daily. Is it restrictive for your

16. movement as well?
Mr Flores: I can’t run after the grand children as fast as I used
to anymore.
Nurse Sarah Percy: If you address your diet and happen to lose
a few kilos and get back to a healthy
weight it might ease the pain for you. Also you could try some
cream for joint pain. You can get
some from the local pharmacy. Also, some stretching and warm-
up exercises before you play golf
might help. Have you thought of yoga? I believe it is good for
golfers. I have a web site that has some
good information I can give to you if you like.
Mr Flores: That would be great. I’ll try those things, Sarah.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, Mr Flores, sounds like you will be on
the right track soon. Let’s go over
what we have discussed today. In terms of your alcohol intake:
currently it is over the current
recommendations of two standard drinks per day. You’re going
to try drinking water after golf and
having one light beer only. This will also help address your
BMI as it is in the overweight range.
You’re also going to try not to fry your food and add in some
salads and more fruit to your diet.
Protecting your skin is important and we have discussed using
sun screen, a hat, sunglasses and sun-
protective clothing. Finally your joint pain; we have discussed
the possibility of yoga, warm-up
exercises and applying some joint cream from the pharmacy.
That sounds like quite a lot, to do

17. doesn’t it?
Mr Flores: I’m sure I can get started today, Sarah.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Terrific Mr Flores. I’d like to see you in two
weeks to check how it’s all going. Is
that ok for you?
Mr Flores: No worries. I’ll be here then!
Nurse Sarah Percy: Excellent. Here is the information I
promised you. [Sarah hands him the leaflets].
I’ll see you in two weeks, okay. Thanks for your time, Mr
Flores. Bye for now.
Mr Flores: Bye, Sarah, thanks for your help.
Nurse-patient interaction scriptThe interview
Nurse-patient interaction script
Use the following script to guide your interaction with your
patient for Assignment 3. Note that the
items within [square brackets] indicate where non-verbal
communication is being used.
You may also refer to Table 2.3 (p. 19) in Critical
Conversations for Patient Safety (Levett-Jones,
2014) which provides verbal and nonverbal communication
techniques as well as contextual
examples. Try to incorporate some of these techniques, as
appropriate, into your patient
interview.

18. The interview
Nurse Sarah Percy: Good morning Mr Flores my name is Sarah
and I’ll be the nurse doing your
health assessment today. How are you?
[Sarah is smiling and looking at Mr Flores]
Mr Flores: Hi, Sarah, nice to meet you. I’m doing well, thank
you.
Nurse Sarah Percy: That’s great! Are you ready to get started?
Mr Flores: Sure. Let’s go.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Let’s go into this office, it’s nice and quiet.
Please have a seat.
[Sarah indicates the chair nearby]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Is the chair comfortable?
Mr Flores: Yes. Thank you.
Nurse Sarah Percy: I have to ask you some personal details and
record them for our files. We keep
them confidential. Is that ok with you?
Mr Flores: Yes. No problems.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Great. Are you ready to begin the
assessment?
Mr Flores: Yes.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Good. Thank you. Let’s get started. Can
you please tell me your full name and

19. date of birth?
Mr Flores: David Flores, the 4th September 1952.
Nurse Sarah Percy: [Repeats details] And your address please?
Mr Flores: Flat 20/ 541 Pacific Highway, Morningside, New
South Wales 2098
Nurse Sarah Percy: [Repeats details] Do you have a phone
number?
Mr Flores: Yes, just a mobile. The number is 04788960123.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you have any allergies?
Mr Flores: I’m allergic to strawberries. They give me an itchy
rash. No strawberry ice cream for me.
https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781488617690/pageid/37
[Mr Flores laughs]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Oh dear that sounds nasty. So you have to
stick to chocolate. That’s not so bad.
[Sarah smiles at Mr Flores] That’s great information thank you.
I see that you have come in today for
a check-up because of joint pain?
Mr Flores: Yes, I am not as young as I once was. And I have to
admit I’m a bit overweight and I’m
having some pain in my joints. I play a lot of golf and like to
stay active. So I thought I’d have a health
check-up.

20. Nurse Sarah Percy: It is a good idea to have a check-up. Now
you are getting older may be think
about having a check-up once a year. But let’s see what we can
help with today. I see that your
observations have been taken and that your temperature is
normal, at 36.7 Celsius. Your pulse is in
the acceptable range, at 78 beats per minute, and your oxygen
saturation in your blood is very good,
at 98%. You mentioned that you are worried about your weight
and this joint pain?
Mr Flores: That’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Are you generally happy with your well-
being otherwise?
Mr Flores: I’m a pretty happy person with a great family and
lots of friends so my retirement from
work is going great.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you play golf? How many times a week?
Mr Flores: I love golf. It keeps me active now I’m retired. I
play competition with my friends. We
usually have a lunch and a few drinks after the game. I practice
every day for about an hour –
walking the course and hitting around. I play competition on
Monday and Saturday. I’m quite good
[Mr Flores smiles] and win a prize most weeks.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Wow you do play a lot. [Sarah smiles] So it
keeps you in contact with your friends
and you have a good time together?
Mr Flores: Yes, there is always something on at the club and I
take my wife along most Fridays for

21. the Bistro and some dancing. We do that if we aren’t minding
the grandchildren.
Nurse Sarah Percy: That sounds lovely. So you live with your
wife?
Mr Flores: Yes, we own our own home in Morningside. We’ve
been married for 40 years now, and
have two children and two grandchildren. They all come to visit
us once a month and stay the night.
Our place is big enough to fit them all.
Nurse Sarah Percy: What a nice way to keep the family
together. Do you need help around the
house at all?
Mr Flores: We have a cleaner once a week and a gardener once
a week. We’ll probably down size to
a retirement village in the next couple of years.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, so you live with your wife in a pretty
large house but have help with the
chores, and the family all come to visit once a month? Have I
understood that right?
Mr Flores: Yes, that’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Sounds like you are pretty active and social.
Are you religious? Do you attend a
church?
Mr Flores: No, we don’t go to church any more. We are
Catholic and go to Mass at Christmas time
but that’s all. We go mostly for the grandchildren they have live

22. animals and do the Christmas story.
[Mr Flores smiles]
Nurse Sarah Percy: Christmas is a good time of year to go to
church. Apart from the joint pain you
are experiencing do you have any other health concerns? Do you
smoke or drink?
Mr Flores: I’m a little overweight but I don’t smoke. I do have a
couple of beers after I play golf and I
sneak some hot chips in as well. I look forward to that.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So how may beers would you drink a day?
Mr Flores: Probably three to four
Nurse Sarah Percy: And the hot chips?
Mr Flores: Well, I might get two serves after golf if I’m hungry
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you eat a lot of fried food?
Mr Flores: Come to think of it, we probably fry a lot of our
meals: steak, fish, and chicken.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Do you eat fruit and vegetables as well?
Mr Flores: I like mashed potato and peas. I like bananas but not
much other fruit.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you have mashed potato and peas every
night because you like it?
Mr Flores: Yes. I suppose its habit now.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay. I’ve had a look at your Body Mass

23. Index and for your height (180
centimetres) and weight (90 kilograms), your BMI is 27.8 which
means that you are overweight. At
this stage you blood pressure is within the acceptable range of
135/70; however, we should
probably look at a healthier diet for you to lessen your chances
of heart problems or diabetes. How
does that sound to you?
Mr Flores: That sounds good.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay. In regards to your diet, you should try
to eliminate, or lessen, the amount
of fried foods. Can you grill or BBQ meat, fish and chicken?
Also, you should eat some salads and
different vegetables rather than mashed potato each night.
Potato has a lot of carbohydrates and
when you add butter and milk the calories are very high.
Tomatoes and cucumber are great in a
salad do you like the sound of that?
Mr Flores: That sounds fine.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Your alcohol intake adds calories as well
and the amount you are drinking is over
the recommended daily intake of two standard drinks a day.
That could affect your liver function
over time and add to your weight. A standard drink of beer has
10 grams of alcohol for beer. A
middy is 1.1 standard drinks. Do you think you could try light
beer or quenching your thirst with cold
water before having a beer?
Mr Flores: That sounds reasonable. I’d not thought about how
thirsty I am after golf. I try cutting
back to one light beer per day.

24. Nurse Sarah Percy: As to your snack after golf, you could try a
small handful of nuts or bringing a
piece of fruit from home. Maybe an apple or an orange? Would
that work for you?
Mr Flores: I can certainly try. Maybe I could freeze the orange
in summer, so it’s cold. Thanks for
that information.
Nurse Sarah Percy: My pleasure. The Heart Foundation web site
has some good and helpful
suggestions and I also have a brochure for you if you would like
one.
Mr Flores: Great! Can l have the brochure and the web address
please?
Nurse Sarah Percy: The other thing I’m worried about is: do you
wear sunscreen or a hat when you
are out playing golf?
Mr Flores: I don’t wear sun screen but I probably should.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Well to protect yourself from developing
skin cancer you really should and also
wear a long sleeve SPF shirt and sun glasses. Have you had a
skin check?
Mr Flores: I have sunglasses and I’ll get some sunscreen. The
golf shop does has some hats that look
good. I’ll try some on this afternoon. I have never had my skin
checked though, Sarah.

25. Nurse Sarah Percy: We should make an appointment with the
skin clinic for a skin check. Is this
afternoon okay with you?
Mr Flores: Yes. I am free this afternoon.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, let’s get back to that joint pain. What
joints do you feel it in?
Mr Flores: in the shoulders and knees mostly. Sometimes I can’t
straighten my legs and I have
trouble getting into the car.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you experience pain in shoulders and
knees and you have difficulty
straightening your leg and getting into the car sometimes?
Mr Flores: That’s right.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Have you been assessed by your doctor and
do you take anything for the pain?
Mr Flores: Yes. The doctor said I have some age-related
arthritis. I take Panadol sometimes.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So you only take the Panadol sometimes?
Mr Flores: Yes, I don’t like taking tablets if I don’t have to.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Does anything else you have tried help with
the pain?
Mr Flores: I have a hot pack I heat up in the microwave that I
use every day.
Nurse Sarah Percy: So it must be quite painful if you use the

26. heat pack daily. Is it restrictive for your
movement as well?
Mr Flores: I can’t run after the grand children as fast as I used
to anymore.
Nurse Sarah Percy: If you address your diet and happen to lose
a few kilos and get back to a healthy
weight it might ease the pain for you. Also you could try some
cream for joint pain. You can get
some from the local pharmacy. Also, some stretching and warm-
up exercises before you play golf
might help. Have you thought of yoga? I believe it is good for
golfers. I have a web site that has some
good information I can give to you if you like.
Mr Flores: That would be great. I’ll try those things, Sarah.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Okay, Mr Flores, sounds like you will be on
the right track soon. Let’s go over
what we have discussed today. In terms of your alcohol intake:
currently it is over the current
recommendations of two standard drinks per day. You’re going
to try drinking water after golf and
having one light beer only. This will also help address your
BMI as it is in the overweight range.
You’re also going to try not to fry your food and add in some
salads and more fruit to your diet.
Protecting your skin is important and we have discussed using
sun screen, a hat, sunglasses and sun-
protective clothing. Finally your joint pain; we have discussed
the possibility of yoga, warm-up
exercises and applying some joint cream from the pharmacy.

27. That sounds like quite a lot, to do
doesn’t it?
Mr Flores: I’m sure I can get started today, Sarah.
Nurse Sarah Percy: Terrific Mr Flores. I’d like to see you in two
weeks to check how it’s all going. Is
that ok for you?
Mr Flores: No worries. I’ll be here then!
Nurse Sarah Percy: Excellent. Here is the information I
promised you. [Sarah hands him the leaflets].
I’ll see you in two weeks, okay. Thanks for your time, Mr
Flores. Bye for now.
Mr Flores: Bye, Sarah, thanks for your help.
Nurse-patient interaction scriptThe interview