Patients History and Culture and the Nurses Role in Works Craig S Lloyd and Sharon C. Murphy - Article Example

Patient’s History and Culture and the Nurse’s Role in Works Craig S Lloyd and Sharon C. Murphy Article 1: “A Guide to Taking a Patients’ History” by Craig S Lloyd Introduction The role of a nurse begins even before the commencement of the treatment, as the nurse is responsible for taking the patient history. The information collected by the nurse during the process of taking patient history is vital in assessing the health of patient. The article “A Guide to Taking a Patients’ History” authored by Craig S Lloyd provides various strategies that can be utilized by a nurse while communicating with the patients to know the patient history. This article was published in the journal named Nursing Standard on August 24, 2007. The article elaborates on the various methods that can be implemented by a nurse to collect maximum information from the patient. Background The article begins by stating the essential skills that a nurse should possess to make the patients comfortable while answering the questions posed by the nurse. According to the article a nurse who possesses good communication skills can make the process of taking the patient history more constructive. The article guides a nurse through the entire of process of taking patient history, by providing details about the manner of approach that should be followed by the nurse. For taking an accurate history of the patient, it is vital that the nurse is proficient in communication skills. “The nurse should be able to gather information in a systematic, sensitive and professional manner. Good communication skills are essential.” (Lloyd, 2007). And it is the development of these communication skills that is discussed in the article. The article also aids a nurse to communicate efficiently with the patients, by providing the kind of approach that the nurse should adopt while dealing with the patients. “Practitioners should avoid the use of technical terms or jargon and, whenever possible, use the patient’s own words”. (Lloyd, 2007). When the patient is comforted by the approach of the nurse, he/she will not be hesitant to disclose the information needed by the nurse. The article also presents the requirement of obtaining the consent of the patient and the necessity of this procedure. It also mentions the various methods through which the consent of the patient can be acquired. Different sections The process of taking the history of the patient is divided into various sections. And the course of action that should be followed in each part by the nurse is presented in the article. In the article, the author has suggested some questions that can help the nurse in starting the process of taking of patient history. It also provides the details of the information that is required to be collected from the patient. It further explains the need of the specific information in the diagnosis of the patient and the care that needs to be taken during the treatment according to the health problems of the patient. The information, gained from the patient, needs to be evaluated according to the medical standards. The article solves these problems by providing the necessary details that are required to assess the patients’ symptoms and addictive habits. The sort of information that is essential for assessing the patient is provided in the article, by dividing the information according to its type. The article stresses that the nurse should question the patient about all his/her medical problems, social life, sexual life, profession and addictive habits such as alcohol, drug dependence and smoking. Even family history is necessary; as it has been proved that the chances of individual of getting a disease are more, if the prevalence of the disease in his/ her family is high. “Some disorders are considered familial: a family history can reveal a strong history of, for example, cerebrovascular disease or a history of dementia, that might help to guide the management of the patient.” (Lloyd, 2007). The article also covers all the aspects of the information that should be collected from the patient. It also suggests that the nurse should not rely only on the patient for collecting information about his/ her medical problems. The nurse can try other options such as family members or friends of the patient, as they can provide certain details that the patient has failed to include in his/her medical history. “It is important not to overlook the value of obtaining a collateral history from a friend or relative.” (Lloyd, 2007). Thus the article mainly focuses on the importance of inclusion of the relations and friends of the patient, in the process of taking patient history. They can provide information which might reveal new details about the patient or bring forth the changes in the behavior of the patient. This source of information other than the patient can be useful in assessing behavioral changes in the patient. Making the patient disclose needed details The various details that a nurse should concentrate on, while taking the history of the patient, are covered by the article. Along with the methods that can be utilized by the nurse while collecting information from the patient, the article also presents the type of questions that can be more effective in making the patient to disclose the specific information which the nurse is looking for. Another important method that is mentioned in the article is summarizing. This aspect, which is overlooked by nurses during the process of taking the history of the patient, is explained in the article. “Summarising the history back to the patient is necessary to check that you have got it right and to clarify any discrepancies. Finally, asking the patient, ‘Is there anything else gives him or her a final opportunity to add any further information.” (Lloyd, 2007). The understanding of the symptoms of diseases can be useful in ascertaining the disease of the patient. The article also helps a nurse in identifying the diseases by providing information about their symptoms. This information is useful for the nurse to assesses the symptom of the patients in relation to a specific disease and inquire if there are other symptoms that are associated with that disease. This approach by the nurse is helpful in collecting accurate information. Concluding thoughts The methods presented in the article and the significant contribution of those methods in the process of taking the history of the patient, will be informative and interesting to nurses. The possibility that even small details can influence the patients’ reactions to the questions of the nurse is presented in the article. The methods presented in the article are beneficial in assessing the health of the patient by taking the patient history precisely. Nurses can definitely adopt these methods in their practice. The methods have been clearly explained by the author, by providing suitable information needed for the implementation of these methods. This article is very beneficial in assessing the health of the patient. More articles should be written on health assessment, for accurate assessment is very crucial in the treatment of the patient. If the health assessment of the patient is done properly, then necessary precautions can be taken while treating him/her depending on the health conditions of the patient. Nurses or any other person who is associated with the field of nursing can be benefited by this article, as it will help them to carry out their responsibility of taking the history of patient with proficiency. Article 2 – “Mapping the literature of transcultural nursing” by Sharon C. Murphy Introduction The second nurse centric article is titled “Mapping the literature of transcultural nursing” and is written by Sharon C. Murphy, an Associate Librarian. The article, originally featured in the Journal of Medical Library Association, was reprinted with permission in the website of National Center for Biotechnology Information, in the weblink -http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1463039/. The article as the title suggest focuses on the subject of transcultural nursing, with the main objective of studying the various library databases, to find out the database which provides the “most complete access to the transcultural nursing literature” (Murphy 2006). While studying the various databases, the article and its author provides interesting and in-depth information about the field of transcultural nursing, and how that information will be beneficial to the nurses in their everyday duties, as well as while giving care to specific groups of people. The article focuses on the history of the field of transcultural nursing, then moving towards its role in nurse education, before focusing on its main objective of library database analysis. Background The main focus of Transcultural nursing is to point out the differences and similarities on the basis of cultural perspectives, and thereby give apt human health care on the basis of cultural values and theories, implementing the knowledgeable skills of culturally harmonious nursing care to people or patients. Murphy focuses on this point by stating, “It focuses on worldwide cultures and comparative cultural caring, health, and nursing phenomena. Established as a formal area of inquiry and practice more than forty years ago, transcultural nursing's goal is to provide culturally congruent care” (Murphy 2006). Culture is normally defined as specific set of norms and practices, practiced or followed by a particular group of people, which are put forwarded on the basis of thinking, resultant decisions and actions. The cultural values are maintained over the specific period of time, showing the particular actions and decisions. Thus, transcultural nursing’s services and approaches are very appropriate to incorporate the individual cultural values, beliefs and practices. “Possessing a combination of education and field experience, they provide knowledgeable, competent, and safe care to people of diverse cultures.” (Murphy 2006). History of Transcultural nursing The article provides the history of Transcultural nursing by focusing on how and why Madeleine Leininger is regarded as the founder and the leader of this field. The article provides further information on why Leininger is regarded as the pioneer of this field. “The first professional nurse with graduate preparation to complete a doctorate in anthropology, Leininger took the “culture” construct from anthropology and “care” from nursing and reformulated these two dominant constructs into “culture care”…. Leininger developed and taught the first university course in transcultural nursing in 1966 at the University of Colorado.” (Murphy 2006). All these information regarding Madeleine Leininger will be beneficial to nurses because, knowing about one of the pioneers of the nursing field will aid them as well as inspire them. According to Madeleine Leininger, transactional nursing can be defined as “a substantive area of study and practice focused on comparative cultural care (caring) values, beliefs and practices of individuals or groups of similar or different cultures.” (Murphy 2006). That is, it is very significant to understand the culture, cultural values, health care services, race, ethnocentrism and ethnography to optimally implement the transcultural nursing concepts. Transcultural nursing and nursing education Trans-cultural nursing is referred to the all-inclusive cultures and comparative cultural health caring and nursing phenomena. As stated in the article, the main objective of this kind of nursing discipline is to integrate international and transcultural elements for the training of the nurses. When the nurses are trained in this field, they can focus on the patient’s personal and cultural aspects, and thereby take care of them accordingly. “During the past three decades, nursing leaders have increasingly recognized the need for schools of nursing to prepare faculty and educate students to provide culturally competent care to diverse populations.” (Murphy 2006). Transcultural nursing has great scope in the nursing profession by developing a worldwide viewpoint regarding the practical nursing which is valuable for the interdependent nations and people. The nursing courses are introduced in the area of cultural perspectives to the nurses, so that they may provide their nursing services not only within the countries but also in different countries, thereby getting expertise in international health care services. Thus, this article by focusing on how this field has to be optimally incorporated into the nursing education, provides key guidelines to the nurses. Concluding thoughts With this article, mainly focusing on the efficacy of various library databases, the article provides the nurses guidelines on which databases to search to get the relevant information regarding Transcultural nursing. According to the author, multiple indexing databases need to be searched to mine the relevant and extensive literature of this field. “Based on this study, PubMed/MEDLINE, Social Sciences Citation Index, and CINAHL provide the best coverage. Collections supporting transcultural nursing require robust access to literature beyond nursing publications.” (Murphy 2006). Thus, this article helps the nurses by providing optimum guidelines on how to search, while doing research as part of their academic study as well as everyday practice. References: Lloyd, C. S. (2007). A Guide to taking a patient’s history. Nursing Standard. 22 (13): 42- 48. Murphy, S. C. (2006). Mapping the literature of transcultural nursing. Journal of Medical Library Association. 94(2): 143-151. Retrieved on June 10, 2010 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1463039/ Read More