During an examination of a preschool child, the nurse will need to take her blood pressure. What might the nurse do to try to gain the child's full cooperation?

A) Tell the child that the blood pressure cuff is going to give her arm a big hug.
B) Tell the child that the blood pressure cuff is asleep and cannot wake up.
C) Give the blood pressure cuff a name and refer to it by this name during the assessment.
D) Tell the child that by using the blood pressure cuff, we can see how strong her muscles are.

Preschoolers' communication is direct, concrete, literal, and set in the present. Therefore, health care providers should use short, simple sentences with a concrete explanation for any unfamiliar equipment that will be used on the child. Preschoolers are animistic; they imagine inanimate objects can come alive and have human characteristics. Thus a blood pressure cuff can wake up and bite or pinch. Preschoolers are animistic; they imagine inanimate objects can come alive and have human characteristics. Thus, the nurse should not say that the blood pressure cuff will give her arm a hug, that it is asleep, or that give it a name as those are humanistic characteristics and the blood cuff could wake up or come alive. Therefore, health care providers should use short, simple sentences with a concrete explanation for any unfamiliar equipment that will be used on the child.