Health Assessment Paper Sample
Health assessment plays an important role in nursing. It guides nursing diagnosis and care provided to patients (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2014). The aim of this essay will be to define health assessment, outline some of its major components and discuss the purposes of health assessment from a nursing perspective. Besides doing this, the essay will provide two examples outlining the manner in which health assessment can be conducted in two different set ups. The first part starts by defining health assessment and describing its two major components. The second part discusses the purpose of health assessment whereas the third part outlines how the exercise can be conducted in two different situations. Health Assessment Paper Sample
Definition and components of health assessment
In nursing, health assessment may be defined as a logical, deliberative as well as interactive process through which nurses collect, document and synthesize information from clients (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2014). Clients in this case may be patients or other people that may not necessarily be sick, but they may be interested in having their health conditions evaluated by nurses. The purpose of this exercise is to make clinical judgments based on the information that nurses collect from clients (Wilson, & Giddens, 2014). Given the diversity of medical conditions, nurses in different units conduct different types of health assessments. Based on this fact, those in cardiac care unit are likely to be familiar with cardiac issues whereas those in neurologic unit are likely to be familiar with neurologic issues. While this is the case, those in advanced practice might play extended roles than those in other levels.
The two main components of health assessment are physical assessment and health history. Physical assessment may be classified into three different categories. First, it may be classified as complete assessment that involves examination of every part of the body. Second, it may be classified as examination of a particular part of the body when that part experiences a problem. In contrast to complete assessment, this type of assessment involves examining the ailing part of the body such as limb when one is not able to walk. Third, it may be classified as examination of a body system. This type of assessment in contrast to other types involves examining a particular system of the body such as cardiovascular system. The aim of physical examination is to obtain baseline data that can be used to establish the functional abilities of a client, supplement client’s medical history as well as form the basis of diagnosis or care among other aims (Weber, & Kelley, 2013). Health history, on the other hand, involves looking at the health record of a client as well as health record of the family of the client. This enables a nurse to evaluate whether the current medical condition of a client has any relationship with his/her health history or that of his/her family.Health Assessment Paper Sample
Purpose of health assessment
From a nursing perspective, health assessment plays a number of important roles in nursing. Some of these roles include the following. First, it helps nurses to collect, document as well as analyze information from clients (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2014). In this case, the moment patients visit hospitals or nursing homes they find nurses that evaluate their medical conditions and collect vital information relating to those conditions. That information is documented and analyzed to guide the type of care and intervention offered to patients. Second, once this information is collected from patients, it is used to make clinical conclusions or judgments that are used to care for patients. In this respect, health assessment is an important aspect in nursing.
Third, health assessment helps nurses to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their clients. In particular, it enables nurses to understand what their clients can do or not do on their own. By so doing, it helps nurses to make good judgments regarding the type of care or intervention that should be offered to different patients. Fourth, it also helps nurses to identify the needs of their clients (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2014). In this case, some patients might not understand their health needs because of their medical conditions or ages. In such cases, nurses through health assessment are able to identify the medical conditions of patients and the right intervention for those patients.
Fifth, health assessment is used to supplement and confirm some aspects that might not be outright from the outlook. For example, examining the way a patient feels about an ailing part of the body might be used to confirm what the nurse knows about a condition. This in return might improve care in nursing. It might also ensure that the right intervention is offered to the patient (Weber, & Kelley, 2013). Sixth, health assessment is used in nursing diagnosis and providing care to patients. In nursing diagnosis, it is used to guide clinical judgments whereas in providing care it is used to determine the type of care that should be offered to a patient.
Seventh, health assessment is used to identify areas that might require health promotion as well as what might be done to improve health. For example, upon examining a patient a nurse might be in a position to advise that patient what he/she can do to improve his/her health status. In some instances, health assessment might be used to determine the physiological outcome of a health care in nursing so that nursing care can be improved (Kvas, Seljak, & Stare, 2014). Health Assessment Paper Sample
Health assessment in various settings
Different settings may require different approaches. However, this does not mean that the process of assessing patients changes in any way. It only means that the manner in which it is conducted might change slightly depending on the age or medical condition of a client. In order to demonstrate this point, I will evaluate two different set ups. The first set up involves a child in a community setting whereas the second set up involves an elderly person in an aged care facility.
Starting with a child in a community setting, it would be important to acknowledge the fact that the child might not be able to give credible information despite being able to express what he/she feels. At the same time, the child might not be able to communicate. For this reason, the nurse will be responsible for conducting most part of the assessment rather than relying on the child or his/her parents to provide information. Assuming that the child is not able to communicate, a nurse might conduct health assessment on the child by asking the parent of the child a few questions. Such questions might relate to fever or the way the child behaves. More specific questions might include whether the child has been vomiting or behaving strangely. Once the nurse obtains this information from the child’s parent, the nurse might conduct a physical examination on the child. In this case, the nurse might start by checking the body temperature of the child (Habich, & Letizia, 2015). After doing this, the nurse might conduct head-to-toe examination on the child to check for vital signs that might lead to a particular clinical conclusion. If need be, the nurse might inquire into child’s health history.
In contrast to the first set up, an elderly person in an aged care facility might be able to communicate. Accordingly, health assessment will be directed by information originating from the elderly person. In this case, the nurse may not necessarily conduct a head-to-toe examination on the elderly person because the person would be able to express himself/herself (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2014). Instead, the nurse may examine the ailing part of body and provide care as per the condition of that part of the body as well as the way the elderly person may be feeling.
Conclusion
Health assessment as evaluated in this essay plays important roles in nursing. It helps nurses to identify what patients can do or not do on their own. It also enables nurses to identify the needs for patients and what can be done to improve the health status of patients. In so doing, nurses are able to provide efficient care to patients. Apart from this, health assessment is used to confirm as well as supplement what nurses already know about a medical condition. It is also used to determine the physiological outcomes of a possible health care thereby ensure nurses provide efficient care to patients. Above all, health assessment is used in making clinical judgments as well as guiding nursing care. Health Assessment Paper Sample
References
Fulton, J., Lyon, B., & Goudreau, K. (2014). Foundations of clinical nurse specialist practice. New York: Springer publishing company.
Habich, M., & Letizia, M. (2015). Pediatric pain assessment in the emergency department: a nursing evidence-based practice protocol. Pediatric nursing, 41(4), 198-202.
Kvas, A., Seljak, J., & Stare, J. (2014). Training needs assessment for leaders in nursing based comparison of competency models. Organizacija, 47(1), 66-75.
Weber, J., & Kelley, J. (2013). Health assessment in nursing. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
As stated by Weilitz & Potter (2007), “Health assessment is the process of gathering, verifying, analyzing, and communicating data about a patient.” (p. 5). This sentence shows that health assessment is essential for fully understanding the situation of a patient.
In the following passage, there is a case study to discuss which kind of health assessment can be used in order to provide a better nursing care for a patient.
Case scenario
Mr Wong, aged 58, arrived at my ward with his wife. He was sweating and coughing. He had a difficulty of breathing and a wheezing sound was heard. After 15 minutes of rest, he felt better. He explained that while he was chasing a bus with his wife, he felt breathlessness and dizzy. He did not recovered after resting for awhile on the street so his wife brought him to the hospital.
Mr Wong was a retiree for a year and he was a constructive worker before. He explained that retirement was because of not enough energy for daily work. He had smoked for over 30 years, one and half pack of cigarette per day, and had 5 cans of beer every week. He was obese and had medical history of hypertension for 5 years with own medicine. He was married and lived with his wife in an old building. He was fatigued when climbing up the stairs as well as walking for awhile. Due to the fatigue, he reduced the social activities and stayed most of his time at home.
He complaint of not having a good sleep because of night cough (on-and-off for a year) and kept coughing with production of sputum for a year. Besides, he had respiratory track infection more frequently in this year. In recent 2 months, he had poor appetite and lost 8 pounds.
During the conversation, Mr Wong usually needed a rest for answering every 3 questions. He looked tired and had deep circles under his eyes. His lip was dry. He was upset about the fatigue and felt useless of himself. He said that his quality of life was affected and lost interest of his previous hobbies. He did not have any social activities in this year nearly.
Mr Wong had a low grade fever and blood pressure was around 145/90. His pulse was around 110. He had taken a chest X-ray after admission and the result was pending. He took the test of spirometry and FEV1 was between 40-50%. His 12-lead ECG was normal. 2-liters of oxygen was given through nasal cannula. He always sat up and seldom leaving the bed. Mr Wong was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Health Assessment Paper Sample
When Mr Wong arrived, I took vital signs of him as a baseline. His weight as well as height were recorded.
Then I took the health history by an interview. The interview was started with the main complaint of Mr Wong. After that I took the past health status. They were medical history, done surgery, medication history, food and drug allergy.
The lifestyle and health practice of Mr Wong were also asked. It included different areas. Smoking and drinking must be included as both were the risk factors of COPD. From his diet, hobbies and activity level, I needed those information for discovering the reasons of weight loss and obesity of Mr Wong. I also asked Mr Wong if he had constipation while if he felt breathless during passing stool and bathing.
After the interview, I held a physical examination for Mr Wong. There were 2 parts, inspection and auscultation. I measured the respiratory rate and rhythm and observed the shape of his chest and any central or peripheral cyanosis. Auscultation was followed. I recorded the abnormal sounds like wheezing.
Advanced nursing health assessment
In the case of Mr Wong, a very simple and brief health assessment was done. It was unsatisfied because the health assessment was not completed and informative. The following passage is going to provide more health assessment and methods which can improve the case of Mr Wong.
Health history
The interview of Mr Wong was too brief. More questions should be asked.Health Assessment Paper Sample
First of all, Mr Wong’s family history should be reviewed as COPD can be inherited (CMP Medica, 2007). More information of his blood relatives such as patients, grandparents and children has to be obtained. Nurse can find out any rare illness among the families which may relate to respiratory disease (Barnett, 2006).
Secondly, Mr Wong work history should be also assessed. Since he was a constructive worker, he usually exposed to the chemical irritant. The nature and the environment of his work directly regard to COPD. Nurse needs to identify any personal protective equipment he used as well (Weilitz & Potter, 2007, p.157).
Thirdly, information regarding home conditions is important to establish how Mr Wong coped at home. As he was living in an old building, the building may be without a lift or with many stairs. It is possible for Mr Wong having difficulty to go out or it may be the reason of reducing social activities (Barnett, 2006).
Fourthly, nurse has to question Mr Wong’s sleeping pattern as he did not sleep well because of night cough. Nurse should document how many hours he slept and why he could not sleep well. Sleeplessness or limited sleep may lead to tiredness and inability to cope with daily activities. By knowing the cause, doctor and nurse can treat the night cough of Mr Wong to deal with the insomnia. And they can prevent giving treatment with night sedative due to the side effects, which may depress the counterespionage(Barnett, 2006).
Physical examination
The physical examination includes different parts which can give a complete picture of Mr Wong’s condition. They will be introduced one by one, from simple to complicated.Health Assessment Paper Sample
Body mass index
From the article of Shepherd (2010), it states that “Nutritional depletion in patients with COPD is common and has negative impact on respiratory and peripheral muscle function.”(p.559). As Mr Wong had poor appetite and lost 8 pound in 2 months, the body mass index (BMI) should be recorded for follow-up. Nurse has to find out causes of weight loss and deals with those problems efficiently.
COPD assessment test
COPD assessment test is a simple questionnaire. It is used to measure the impact of COPD on the life of patient, and how this changes overtime. By this test, nurse takes it as a reference to improve the treatment. The test contains 8 questions. They are the frequency of coughing, if he feels any mucus in his chest, if his chest feels tight, if he feels breathless when climbing up hills or stairs, if he is limited doing any activities at home, if he is confident leaving his home despite his lung problem, if he sleeps soundly, if he has lots energy(GlaxoSmithKline, 2009).
Medical Research Council( MRC) Dyspnoea Scale
Measurement of breathlessness is essential for a COPD patient. The Dyspnoea Scale of MRC allows patients to grade their breathlessness on a scale of 1-5 according to activity carried out. The degree of breathlessness related to activities is from grade1-5 which means from mild to severe. It acts as a baseline and is useful for monitoring purposes for nurses and doctors (Barnett, 2009).
Physical examination of Chest
Through the process mentioned in above passages, nurse can receive higher proportion of basic information about Mr Wong’ condition. In the coming passages, several techniques which focus on chest are going to introduce. There are 4 physical respiratory examination, inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. Although inspection and auscultation were applied in the case of Mr Wong, they were imperfect.Health Assessment Paper Sample
Inspection
Inspection consists of several parts. For the case of Mr Wong, nurse mainly focus on the inspection of breathing pattern, use of accessory muscles and positioning (Weber & Kelley, 2010).
Nurse needs to observe the rate, depth and rhythm of respiration. If these factors are abnormal, they represent the increasing workload of breathing. The pattern of respiration should be recorded if there is any special such as tachypnoea, hyperventilation, Cheyne-Strokes respiration, Biot’s respiration…etc. It allows the doctor giving particular treatment (Massey & Meredith, 2010).
Abnormal posture shows the patient may have difficulty in breathing. Mr Wong always sat up or leaned forward because he can better tense the respiratory muscle and contractility (Massey & Meredith, 2010). In addition, using of respiratory muscles (trapezius, or shoulder) helps inspiration especially chronic airway obstruction (Weber & Kelley, 2010). Nurse should pay more attention and provide suitable nursing care (such as oxygen supply, suction, removing tight clothes…etc) when above symptoms occur.
Palpation
Palpation for tenderness and sensation can determine whether there is inflammation, muscle sore or infection. It can be performed by one or both hands following the sequences. It should be started towards the midline at the level of the left scapula then the nurse moves her hand from left to right. The moving is systematically downward and out to cover the lateral portions of the lungs at the bases. The nurse should compare the finding bilaterally. The nurse can also check if there is mass or tumor (Weber & Kelley, 2010).
During the palpation, a crackle sensation may be sensed which means crepitus. This sensation is because of air passing through fluid and exudates in the lungs. Fremitus should be assessed. It is a vibration of air movement through the chest wall. It can be increased, decreased or absent which represent different lung problem like consolidation or bronchial obstruction, pulmonary edema, pneumothorax…etc (Weber &Kelley, 2010).Health Assessment Paper Sample
Percussion
Percussion has 2 main functions, determining the tone as well as the diaphragmatic excursion.
When nurse percusses the chest wall, the sound produced can show whether lung tissue is filled with air, liquid or solid. Same as palpation, a sequence of percussion should be followed. The process is started at the apices of the scapulae then across the top of both shoulders. Next, nurse percusses the intercostals spaces across and down. Finally, she moves from the lateral aspects at the bases of the lung (Weber & Kelley, 2010). By comparing the sound of percussed areas, nurse may discover the lung mass or other respiratory problems (Weilitz & Potter, 2007). Measuring the diaphragmatic excursion is also important. Emphysema may be a cause of limited diaphragmatic descent.
Auscultation
For auscultation, breathing sound is not the only element to assess. The voice sound can also be assessed. It is easy that nurse auscultates the chest wall while she asks the patient to repeat pronouncing “ninety-nine”. This is the way to identify if there is consolidation from pneumonia, atelectasis, or tumor (Weber &Kelley, 2010).
Conclusion
In this article, some health assessment tools and techniques are suggested for a CODP patient, Mr Wong. There is no traumatic procedure involved. However, the results of different examination can give large amount of information of the patient’s body condition. And this is essential for the clinical staff to improve the clinical decision making in order to provide better treatments for the patient.Health Assessment Paper Sample