Cultural, Spiritual and Psychosocial Assessment of a Patient - Essay Example

College Cultural, spiritual and psychosocial health assessment Nursing is a practice which involves meeting and interacting with diverse patients each and every day. Nursing is crucial in the care of patients regardless the severity of the illness or other conditions. Due to this reasons, the school of nursing has come up with a system of education where the nurses are taught on medical are of the patients inclusive of cultural, spiritual and psychosocial aspects relating to nursing. The role of nurses is to assess the condition of the patient and thereafter take charge of the well being of the patient during recovery. ( Bellack, J. P., & Bamford, P. A. 1984) Cultural, spiritual and psychosocial assessment of a patient occurs after the health assessment where the nurse determines the possible causes of the patient’s condition. If the situation is an emergency little or no social assessment of the patient is carried out as the health assessment is always the first priority of the nurse and the doctors. During a health assessment, asking the patient of their past medical condition is the first thing that nurses must do so as to find any possibilities of a recurrent health condition or relation of the current illness to the previous ones. The patient’s health is more important than their background or beliefs. An example is pain assessment where the nurse determines the location and amount of pain then he or she can prescribe pain drugs. After treating an urgent condition, the nurses then conduct the other parts of their assessment which now include the cultural, spiritual and psychosocial aspects. This only occurs after the patient is stable to conduct a conversation. The assessment of the patients’ health and general condition involves a number of questions. The answers given by the patient give the nurses a clear insight of the life of their patient and this enables them help them in any way possible to improve not only their health status but also their well being. Each question that a nurse poses to their patient must have boundaries and must be in line with the code of ethics of a nurse. The questions must therefore have a reason to find help for the patients. The tools used during assessment of a patient are generally a paper and a pen to note down the areas of concerns. However, the main tools that nurses must put in use are good virtues and a sense of understanding of the patient. Virtues that give the patient comfort and trust when conversing with the nurse are tools used to guide through the assessment. A cultural assessment on a patient is mainly carried out through a series of questions and this may involve both the patient and the family so as to get a clear approach during the patients care. A nurse should have special guesses of the background of their patent so as to develop a sense of reasoning with the patient and to avoid getting shocked while the patient answers questions. The first question involving culture must be on if the patient has used any form of traditional treatment before and if the patient is comfortable with the whole treatment given to them. This question allows the nurses and the doctors to conduct their work without any conflict from the patient regarding some forms of treatment. For instance asking a patient if he or she is okay with surgery before hand is important as some culture do not permit any surgery. (Giger, J. N., & Davidhizar, R. E. 2004) Moreover, spiritual assessment is a vital part of any health assessment of a patient. This form of assessment is mostly observed and conducted in patients who have serious illnesses especially those with no definite cure or to patients who have gone through traumatizing experiences that landed them in hospital. The purpose spiritual assessment serves is to provide the nurse with a person who they can relate and pour their troubles and thoughts to. Spiritual assessment must involve physical presence of the nurse and a form of good communication where the patient can discuss deep issues and get relief through the nurse. Spiritual nursing does not have to involve any deep religious matters but the questions asked should provide the patient with a platform to air their deep concerns. For instance, the nurse may ask the patient of the line of action they take during difficult moments to ease the sadness. The nurse can also ask the patient if they need special counseling sessions so as to discuss the events that led to their condition. The nurse can also think through with the patient about the impact the condition or illness will have on the patient’s normal lifestyle. Spiritual assessment requires patience, listening carefully to the patient and getting into the patients view of life at that particular moment. All these questions give the patient strength and hope to trust in their own spiritual beliefs. This also makes them feel cared for and needed hence improving their health status. Psychosocial assessment involves counseling of patients and measuring their mental condition at the time of their illness. Psychosocial assessment of the patients can be carried out in a rehabilitation center or in the hospital where the patient is or even at home. This assessment is conducted by nurses so as to create a sense of importance to the patient of their well being. The questions raised might involve stress related issues hence determining the emotional damage that the illness has caused the patient. The nurse can ask the patient if he misses anything from his normal life or any one as well as asking the patient to explain their emotional status which might be anger, lost hope, grief or other emotional distresses. All questions regarding psychosocial assessment must be handled with care to help the patient during recovery. (Barry, P. D. 1984) Several benefits are associated with nurses conducting the various types of assessment and the main one is improved heath conditions of the patients. Relieving the patients from other worries has been proved to medically improve the health of a patient quickly. However, the negative nature of an assessment comes in when the patient and nurse lack good relations hence conflict arises and the patients declines to answer any questions. Not feeling comfortable can worsen a patient’s condition. (Murray, R. B., & Zentner, J. P. 1993) During the assessment, the nurse must observe the body language of the patient so as to relate to the patients concerns and build interest in knowing the patient better. Keeping eye contact is crucial in any conversation and the body movement may help the nurse confirm if the information the patient gives is true or false. Observing the body movement of the patient helps the nurse determine the amount of attention to give the patient as some need more while others appear to be strong. In conclusion, the assessment carried out by a nurse must involve all aspects of a patient’s well being and the response of the patients must be well observed in order to get the correct data. All the assessment procedures are carried out in accordance to the code of ethics of nurses especially in knowing the type of questions to ask a patient. Relevance must be acknowledged by the nurses and the patients must be fully aware of any medical procedures done on them. The assessments hugely give positive results in the well being of patients and also in their health. Through the assessment, nurses and doctors are able to conduct correct diagnosis and treatment plan for their patients. References Barry, P. D. (1984). Psychosocial nursing assessment and intervention. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Bellack, J. P., & Bamford, P. A. (1984). Nursing assessment: A multidimensional approach. Monterey, Calif: Wadsworth Health Sciences Division. Giger, J. N., & Davidhizar, R. E. (2004). Transcultural nursing: Assessment & intervention. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby. Murray, R. B., & Zentner, J. P. (1993). Nursing assessment and health promotion: Strategies through the life span. Norwalk, Conn: Appleton & Lange. Read More