Health Assessment

Answer

Health Assessment

Introduction

Health assessment of patients falls under the docket of both nurses and physicians.  Assessment of patients may vary based on both the setting and the role, and remains one of the essential obligation of nurses in promoting health, prevention of illness and in caring for those in needs. This paper define health assessment, describe major components of health assessment, discuss the purpose of health assessment and suggest way in reference to case scenarios of conducting health assessment.

Health Assessment

According to Jarvis (2016), health assessment is basically a plan of care employed to identify specific needs of individuals and suggests ways of addressing the needs by skilled nursing facilities or healthcare systems. It assists in evaluation of health status of individuals through physical examination after taking health history. It can also be defined as a raft of measures including physical examinations or any other procedures aimed at detecting diseases among individuals who seem or feel well.

Major Components of a Health Assessment

A complete and holistic health assessment must have these components; the health /nursing history of the individual and physical examination. Others are physical, psychological, social and spiritual assessment, diagnostic and lab test results considerations, and review of any other available health information that pertains the individual.

It is however, important to note that assessment of any patient begins as a soon as the nurse meets the client.  A nurse would develop first impressions and will note certain aspects of the cient such as the speech patterns, skin colour and body position which can help to give interludes on the subsequent assessment. As the process progresses, the nurse them will have to collect information in a formal manner, assessment may be objective or subjective. From this preliminary observation,  nurse may  notice  a pattern that suggest poor nutrition for example, prompting him to ask questions such as, can you describe your appetite?, do you have enough money to buy food?, and do you eat most meals alone? Etc.

The nurse has to collect information about the history of the patient as a key component in health assessment. The history of the patient requires gathering a range of data that includes, biographical data, past medical history, current emotional and physical complaints, current and past ability to perform activities of daily living, family patterns of illness, spiritual, cultural practices, concerns and wishes, availability of support systems, perceived stressors, effectiveness of past coping patterns, client socioeconomic factors that affect preventive health practices and any other concordance with other recommended mediations if there (Lobo Pacheco,  Jonzon & Hurtig, 2016). Example of information required includes names, telephone number, and address, date of birth, marital status, age, region and nationality. This information is critical because it will help in the data interpretation and analysis.

It is also important to understand the current complaints or the circumstances that have propelled them to visit the facility (Berger & Johnson, 2017).  Patient complaint will help uncover valuable information concerning the individual helping in uncovering crucial additional information. For instance, the client may through awareness campaigns about Cancer, decide to visit a nurse to assess his or her health situation. Getting to understand the family patterns of illness is also critical in this assessment. Some of the diseases such as Cancer, obesity, heart attack might have affected a number of individuals from which the client comes, hence necessitating such inquiries. Understanding socioeconomic dynamics of the client as well will help in health assessment. Individuals with low income levels may suffer nutrition related ailments as opposed to those from high income levels who are likely to experience obesity.

Physical examination is the second component of health assessment. The client should be examined in a quiet, warm, and well lighted room, putting into consideration comfort and privacy. Some of the techniques applied in physical examination include, Auscultation, percussion, palpation and inspection. Palpation aims at assessing the textures of the skin, moisture, position, temperature, organs, and their sizes, presence of lumps etc.  Percussion assess underlying structures for their location, density and size. Auscultation assess through listening of sounds produced by various organs such as heart, lungs etc.

Purpose of health Assessment

According to Wilson & Giddens (2017) it is critical for individuals to go for health assessment as it helps in identifying existence of any diseases or condition detrimental to one’s health even without having experience any symptoms or signs. Early detection ensures early treatment and informs appropriate control measures resulting in better outcomes, and lowering the risk of serious complications.

There are quite a number of reasons or purposes of undertaking health assessment, especially physical assessment. One is to obtain baseline data concerning functional abilities of the client. Clients may experience some challenges when it comes to functioning of heir essential organs such as lungs impacting negatively on their health (Rabarison, Timsina & Mays, 2015). The assessment also acts and a supplement of a confirmation slate or may refute the data obtained in the clients nursing history. The value of this is that, the client gains a deeper understanding of his or her health situation. Furthermore, health assessment helps nurses to obtain information that can help establish nursing diagnoses and plans of care that suits the client. It is also essential in evaluating the physiological outcomes of healthcare essential in the progress of the client’s health problem. Similarly, health assessment is essential in facilitating the process of making clinical judgement about the health status of the client. The assessment as well acts as an avenue to aid nurses in identifying areas for health promotion and illness prevention.

Discussion of Health Assessment Setting

 The two settings for health assessment are in a child community setting, school health clinic and an elderly person in aged community setting. In both of the setting, the purpose of health assessment will be to help in identification of any risk factors exhibited by children and elderly clients concerned about their health (Dillon, 2016). For the children setting, information about the child such as background and health history will be provided. Secondly, an overall assessment will be done, and then appropriate recommendation made to the parents on the way forward. This will be documented; a copy will remain in the facility while a copy will be given to the carer or the parent. Similarly, in case of an elderly person, his past health history and any other information concerning health will be taken. Overall assessment will be done and report produced providing advice on the appropriate step to take. The report will be handed over to the person of carer and a copy retained in hospital. In all these the nurse may measure the client’s blood pressure, rhythm and pulse rate, assessment of client’s medication, continence, and any other activities.

Conclusion

To ensure wellbeing and good health, people have to ensure that they undergo health assessment at least ones in a year. This will impact on their health as they will be knowledgeable to manage various risks. Nurses should as well understand their duties and ensure that they help in rendering better and quality assessment to their clients.(2017) study employed, there are very little room for generalizing the study’s findings.