A nurse wishes to teach alternative coping strategies to a patient experiencing severe anxiety. The nurse will first need to:

A) verify the patient's learning style.
B) create outcomes and a teaching plan.
C) lower the patient's current anxiety level.
D) assess how the patient uses defense mechanisms.

A patient experiencing severe anxiety has a significantly narrowed perceptual field and difficulty attending to events in the environment. A patient experiencing severe anxiety will not learn readily. Determining preferred modes of learning, devising outcomes, and constructing teaching plans are relevant to the task but are not the priority measure. The nurse has already assessed the patient's anxiety level. Using defense mechanisms does not apply.