The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia standard 4.1 requires that the registered nurse “conducts assessments that are holistic as well as culturally appropriate” (2016). Health assessment in nursing is not only about the physical illness of a patient but also the overall situation and how the illness affects other aspects of the patient’s life and the treatment they wish to receive. By using a holistic health assessment, a healthcare professional can focus on the other aspects of the patient’s life which affects their health. This essay will highlight how looking at physical, social, psychological, cultural, spiritual and developmental factors can allow the nurse to gather data to gain an understanding of the patient’s situation and …show more content…
Physical assessment can include vitals, medical tests and the nurse’s observation of the patient’s overall health. Luxford (2015) describes physical examination as the collection of measurements and data, which can either be collected through evaluation of each body system or through a head to toe examination. The physical assessment should also be used to note visual observations about the patient’s overall appearance and health status (Luxford 2015). Physical assessment can also include the skills of inspection, palpitation, percussion and auscultation of the patient (Slater 2015). A general assessment is collected during the physical assessment and can include the recording of vital signs, height and weight measurements and observations of overall appearance and mental status (Slater 2015). Slater (2015) discusses how by thorough assessment and collection of baseline measurements the nurse is able to monitor and reassess the patient’s condition. Through the assessment the nurse will be able to see if the body is maintaining homeostasis and can observe physical problems such as mobility issues and skin …show more content…
Development generally takes place from birth through to death while growth only occurs in the first 20 years, although they are related they are independent from each other (Harvey & Park 2015c). Developmental theories used in nursing are important for assessment, reassurance for certain behaviours and to provide further planning and interventions if a delay is present (Harvey & Park 2015c). Developmental theories created by Erikson and Piaget can be referred to for assessment (Lewis & Foley 2014). Lewis and Foley (2014) discuss how nurses should acquire knowledge and assessment skills for developmental stages to allow for accurate assessment and appropriate interventions or education. An example of development affecting healthcare is a child whose mother believes there is a delay and is seeking medical advice. By assessing the developmental level of a patient the nurse will be able to determine the stage of life the patient has reached and whether there is a need for
In accordance to Erikson’s developmental framework, nurses are required to understand each developmental stage. Erikson added that nurses can play a crucial role in enhancing a person's development by understanding his developmental stage. Moreover, supporting and encouraging the individual’s behaviour can strengthen his beliefs and solve his developmental issues. (Concept growth)
The developmental stage of a patient is of importance to nursing care because knowledge of human growth and development is basic to the healthcare of individuals across the life span. Thus, in order for healthcare professionals to properly and appropriately care for their patients, an understanding of the different stages of development and tasks to be accomplished in each stage is necessary.
Often in practice, we as nurses deal with a variety of diseases and treatments and often have to react to the illness that the patient presents with upon our interaction. While this is an essential piece of our practice, we also have a duty to our patients to be proactive in preventing specific health-related consequences based on their risk factors and to promote their health and well being. Health promotion as it relates to nursing is about us empowering our patients to increase their control over their lives and well beings and includes: focusing on their health not just illness, empowering our patients, recognizing that health involves many dimensions and is also effected by factors outside of their control (Whitehead et al. 2008)..
These four concepts play a very important role throughout the care in every single patient we are in contact with. The concept of person is used to represent each individual patient, such as a man or a woman (Chitty & Black, 2014). In the nursing profession, we know that every person is different in their own way from many different factors such as, genetics and environment. As a nurse, we incorporate the different factors that make a person who they are today. According to Chitty & Black (2014), the concept of environment includes all the influences or factors that impact the individual. The environment plays an important role in either promoting or interfering with the patient’s health. The environment can consist of many different systems, such as family, cultural, social and community systems. All these different systems can play a role in the patient’s health. The third major concept of the metaparadigm is health. The concept of health varies from person to person and day-to-day with many different factors included (Chitty & Black, 2014). Health includes every part that makes a person whole, which includes being able to perform their everyday tasks in life effectively. The last concept of the metaparadigm is nursing. Nursing, being the final concept includes all the previous concepts of person, environment and health to create a holistic approach (Chitty & Black, 2014). The holistic approach promotes the well-being of the mind, body and spirit in our
When someone hears holistic nursing their mind may immediately jump to a form of hippie nursing with little to none scientific background or accuracy in the quality of care. This belief however is extremely inaccurate as to what holistic nursing really is. Holistic care can be defined as to when the nurse honors the patient’s wishes and takes into consideration the social, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the patient’s life (American Holistic Nurses Association, n.d.). Holistic nursing is growing in popularity amongst patients because of its open communication between nurse and patient, its unique approach to health and healing, as well as the comprehensive care it can provide.
Working in a family practice requires a nurse to treat the entire family and experience providing care for each developmental stage. Understanding the developmental stages of human growth creates an environment that allows the nurse to view and provide care for the whole person. There are eight human growth and development stages that include promoting health throughout the life span and resolving health concerns. We will look at each stage and identify significant changes and health concerns experienced for each stage.
When the patient such as Annie is admitted in to the health facility/ hospital, a complete assessment is required to determine both present and future needs and complications that can arise. This is done through examining both health history and physical assessments. Identifying a patient’s health history is achieved through implementing Gordon’s Functional Patterns ‘provides a functional framework for nurses to collect a range of information that can deduce between both dysfunctional and functional behaviour’ (Berman, Kozier & Erb, 2011). Physical assessment data is obtained through using a systematic approach, which involves using a head to toe assessment. The purpose of this type of assessment is the fact that it allows nurses as according to (Berman, Kozier & Erb, 2011) to ‘supplement, confirm or
During my career as a registered nurse I have had the privilege of caring for my patients at the bedside and meeting their needs holistically. Additionally, the safety of my patients is one of the most important aspects of my current role. The experience of advocating for my patients during my nursing career has taught me to place my patient’s health and wellbeing first. The second most important aspect of nursing that I have learned during my career is how to meet my patient’s needs as a whole, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically applying the holistic approach to each patient. I believe that the patient’s needs
Nursing is not only a career, but a way to give back to the community by enhancing and maintaining the health of other individuals. Throughout my clinical experiences last year, I witnessed kindness and selflessness among many nurses that have impacted and helped shape my future career choices and life immensely. Throughout this semester, I will assess myself on my nursing skills and will constantly try to strengthen my assessments, communication, clinical judgment and patient safety skills using the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (CCEI, 2014). I believe that my experiences at Mayo will enabled me to find several of my strengths that I will obtained throughout the semester along with finding my weaknesses that I can work on for next semester. I am
A cultural assessment interview is very important when taking care of patients or their families who may be from a different culture than the nurse’s. In order to be able to better take care of a patient, we first need to know their own interpretation of disease and illness within their cultural context, values, and beliefs. Since I am Indian and my culture is a mix of the Indian cultural beliefs and my religion Islam, I was looking forward to this interview so that I am able to learn more about different cultures using my assessment.
My philosophy is based on my personal values and beliefs as it relates to the body of work in nursing. The practice of nursing not only involves applying knowledge but the ability to differentiate the needs of the client and being empathetic to their needs. Hence, the importance of holistic nursing and not only being for the client but for the clients family as well. Holistic nursing is defined as “all nursin...
Nursing research is an essential element of nursing practice as it allows nurses to gain nursing knowledge and develop theory which guides practice. In other words, nursing has evolved both as a discipline and practice through the use of knowledge from other disciplines, the expansion of knowledge and skills in clinical practice, as well as through nursing research and inquiry. As noted by Keele (2011), the clinical practice of nursing primarily is how to address individual patients’ subjective conditions. Therefore, in most cases, nursing research is pre-occupied by how to improve clinical practice of nursing by addressing “individual preferences and environmental variables that are not amenable to simple quantitative analysis” (Pullen, 2000,
Stacey completed a very thorough holistic health assessment while working with her patient Alex Carpenter. One aspect I believe she did exceptionally well was the provision of various health teachings throughout the assessment. The specific health teaching that stood out to me occurred when she was obtaining data pertaining to the patient’s smoking history. The patient pointed out that he has smoked for the past thirty years and Stacey thereby provided some information related to the various affects smoking has on the respiratory system. I found this teaching to be very important because the patient has been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) and smoking can aggravated the symptoms associated with this illness and
Development is defined as the process of change, a pattern that occurs from birth throughout the lifespan of the individual (Keenan and Evans, 2009). In the UK it is usual to cover child development between birth and nineteen years. Development is often categorised into different areas of development; physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social. Smidt (2006) suggested that all areas of development are interrelated. Therefore development has to be approached with a holistic view; whilst looking at one area of development all areas of development need to be considered. "The holistic ideology values the whole child understanding the young child as an individual within the context of his or her family, community and culture” Wood (1998). With this in mind practitioners need to be aware of a child’s background. Children usually progress through a set pattern of stages, unless a child has additi...
The infancy stage of development begins with the child is born, and continues until about eighteen months. During this stage a lot of growth takes place, especially physical growth. This stage of development coincides with Erikson’s stage of trust vs. mistrust.