Health Impact Assessment - Essay Example

Health Assessment Name Institution GOALS The main objective of this study is to assist the student in using both the constructivism and cognitive theories to acquire important techniques in running the patient’s physical examination, carrying out of research, understanding varying family structures, as well as, taking and recording of the patient’s history (Billings & Halstead, 2012). The students also are conversant with varying bio-psycho-social and cultural issues, by the end of this study. A competent nurse must be proficient in these skills, in order to deliver effective services to the patients. OBJECTIVES The student must be in a position to use their skills in consultation to their patients. This means that, the nurse must have the ability to extract the patient’s true story. This is achieved by employing the appropriate questions for the patient. Once the students are equipped with these skills, they will have the capacity to know the correct time to ask these questions. They should be calm with the patient through give them enough time to narrate their story without interrupting them. They must also be conversant with the necessary steps in preparing the layout of the consultation room. A well organized room helps the nurses in conducting a perfect consultation. The student should be in a position to establish a rapport with their patients. It is significant for the student to know how to express greetings. Once greetings are conducted in the right manner, the patient feels at ease. The study, therefore, aims at improving the student’s eye contact when dealing with the patient, as well as, showing interest while dealing with patient. Once this skills as carried out in the right manner, there is an establishment of honesty and open communication by the patient. The study will also help the patient in acquiring the necessary knowledge when asking discriminating and delineating questions in regards to specified symptoms, which helps in verifying the actual nature of the patient’s condition. It also offers the student an opportunity of acquiring vital information on a diagnosis. The study will also help the student in the utilization of their facial expression, body language and their verbal fluency when dealing with different patients. Some patients might not be cooperative in the narration of their stories, in such a case; the student should be equipped with the necessary skills of acquiring this information from the patient. By the end of the study, the student should be conversant with various family structures. This will help the student understand every family has both the risk and protective factors. The life events and personal characteristics are responsible for threatening the wellbeing of the family. Once the student is versed with the existing risk factors, he/she is better placed to seek the risk factor behind the patient’s illness. The study helps the students in understanding the effects of cultural issues on health assessment. Each culture has a health belief structure, which tries to explain the causes of illness, people affected and the treatment used cure these illnesses. For example, in Asian cultures, the oldest man in the extended family has significant influence in their community (Finley, Kristjansdottir & Forgeron, 2009). Therefore, a doctor might prescribe a medication for the patient only to be rejected by this community, thus, terminating the consultation. PREREQUISITES The teacher divided the students into groups of four. The student had to agree between themselves who was to play the role of the doctor, while the rest played the role of the patients. The student playing the role of the doctor had to perform various examinations on the ‘patients’ while recording his/her findings. The objective of this exercise was to sharpen the students’ skills in taking the patient’s history, body posture, and conducting physical examination to their ‘patients’. LESSON DESCRIPTION Health assessment includes all the processes of checking the patient’s physical, emotional and mental health. This process is carried out during or before the treatment. This is followed by a detailed treatment plan. The information obtained during this process is inclusive of medical co-existing conditions. Health assessment is also significant in checking the functional status of the patient. Once this process is carried out, the doctor is in a position to know whether the patient is capable of functioning independently (Suther & Sandel, 2013). During health assessment, patient’s strength, balance, and his/her speed of walking is evaluated. The doctor also checks on the patient’s emotional status to rule out the existence of issues in regards to mental health since this might affect the doctor’s choice of treatment. Once the doctor has completed all the necessary requirements, the information obtained during the health assessment is entered in the patient’s medical records. The nurse utilizes numerous tools in this evaluation. Some of the tools employed include; Crighton Royal scale used for rating the behavior of the patient, Barthel index, questionnaires for checking the patients general health, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) for checking the consciousness of the patient, as well as, the Clifton assessment procedure utilized in checking the patient’s mental health. Activities The usage of these tools was aimed helping the student learn on the usage of these tools. In order to have an effective diagnosis, the nurse must always use these tools appropriately. It was fundamental for the student to use these tools on each other so as to know the readings indicated on the tools. All the student had to use these tools, which meant that the assigned role of the doctor kept changing until all the students in the group had the opportunity of not only touching, but also using it. The students were later guided on how to record the data obtained in the electronic medical record. Purpose The main purpose of using the nursing tools was acquiring the necessary skills, which will help then in the eradication of possible illness. Incorrect utilization of these tools could lead to patient’s death. For instance, incorrect reading in patient’s rate of respiration, blood pressure and pulse could lead to sudden death. The study was vital since, it formed the initial stage in nursing process. A competent nurse must have the capability of performing an effective health assessment (Bach, 1993). The students were equipped with the necessary skills of dealing with patients with different illnesses, as well as, ages. Improving the listening skills of the students is of utmost significance since some patients could be very weak to speak loudly or coherently. The study helped the students in knowing the right questions to ask during a health assessment. LESSON PROCEDURE Active participation of the student was paramount in this study. In making sure that there was total participation in class, the students were divided in to groups of four. Introduction The study intended to impact the students with basic skills in health assessment. This was initiated through helping the students in identifying various health assessment components. Another objective of the study was helping the students understand about different family structures, as well as, identifying the bio-psycho-social and cultural issues associated with health assessment (Gesouli-Voltyraki et al, 2012). Main Activity The study aimed at equipping students with vital knowledge of carrying out an effective health assessment. In a group of four, each student was assigned with different role in regards to components of health assessment (Nemmers & Jorge, 2013). This meant that, at the end of the study, each group had covered patient’s physical examination, psychological and social examination and taken the history of the patient. The students were expected to use observation, nurse’s tools in affirming the patient’s wellbeing. Some of the health assessment components that the student was expected to test were; blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate and pulse. After testing these components, the student was expected to record his/her findings. It was also necessary for the student to develop a number of questions that would guide him/her in trying to ascertain the origin of the patient’s illness. Conclusion In helping the student ascertain whether the findings obtained by the groups were correct, the teacher now carries out the health assessment for the whole class to see. This helps the student have a deeper understanding of topic in question. This will also help the students in correcting the minor details that could have been overlooked in the group. Assessment The study concerning health assessment was understood by the student. The students showed immense understanding of health assessment while working in the groups by choosing relevant questions for collecting the patient’s history. Correct usage of nurse’s tools, as well as, good selection of question evidently indicated that the objective of the study had been achieved. References Bach, S. (1993). Health Assessment. Nurse Education Today , 13 (6), 468. Billings, D.M., & Halstead, J.A. (2012). Teaching in Nursing: A guide for faculty, 4th Ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders. Finley, A. G., Kristjansdottir, O., & Forgeron, P. A. (2009). Cultural influences on the assessment of children's pain. Pain research & management: the journal of the canadian pain society , 14 (1), 33-37. Gesouli-Voltyraki et al (2012). Physiotherapy student's mental health assessment. Interscientific Health Care , 4 (2), 71-76. Nemmers, T. M., & Jorge, M. (2013). Clinical assessment of health literacy. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation , 29 (2), 89. Suther, E., & Sandel, M. (2013). Health impact assessment. medicine and health Rhodes Island, 96 (7), 27. Read More