MR. SMITH What a mess! I had to wait three hours for my son to pick me up at the hospital. Then the doctor came in and said “Evan, you're going home this morning. Pack your bags.” I wasn't home five minutes before the deliveryman came. What is all this? Generally the nurses at the hospital took care of this sort of thing. Are you gonna stay? I never thought I'd have to do this at home.

ANN It's going to be all right, Mr. Smith. Here, let me take these from you. Let's take this one step at a time. I have specialty training in intravenous therapy, like how to set these up…

MR. SMITH Well, I guess I've just got to calm down. I got so upset trying to get home. You know, I was a finance chairman before I retired. Ran a very efficient department. It took a lot to rattle me.

ANN I can see how upset you are now. And that's completely understandable under the circumstances. But considering all that you've been through and coming home, it doesn't seem like you're normally an anxious person. Is that right?

MR. SMITH I haven't been like this in a long time…probably years. Maybe never. I've had a lot of tough times but I always come through steady as a rock. Now...tell me what we're going to do about all this.

ANN It's very simple. There's just a few simple steps. I'm going to show you how to use…

NARRATOR Mr. Smith's situation is familiar to many clinicians. That he could be anxious is almost expected. Ann heard and responded; acknowledged his references to coming home, fear of the equipment, concerns about her skills. She picked up on his mention of his career to clarify what she interpreted, that Mr. Smith may not regularly experience anxiety.