Registered nurses must not only anticipate the usual responses that a patient may experience during colonoscopy but also must be able to predict and prevent atypical responses. Normal healthy compensation (physiologic) and decompensation (pathophysiologic) responses as well as observable and measurable patient behaviors are included in a comprehensive assessment. In developing a plan of care, nurses must also consider the patient's past experiences, knowledge, and usual coping mechanisms. Professional nurses are responsible and accountable for diagnosing and treating human responses to actual or potential health problems. A human response framework emphasizes the multiple perspectives in which humans adapt to health and illness. This framework provides a model to clarify what constitutes a human response.