Noting that older patients are often vulnerable in the hospital setting because they may not comply with the nursing staff's instructions, this paper offers a systematic method for teaching nurses how to evaluate older patients in a sympathetic manner and to focus on the patient's norms of behavior rather than those of the hospital. The paper proposes a course that could be used for inservice training or as a component of a communication course in nurses training. The proposed course would use Mark Knapp's "Social Intercourse" as a textbook and would consist of ten one-hour sessions. A course outline, containing descriptions of the topics and activities of each session, is included. (FL)