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HLSC121 Health Assessment – Assessment Task 1: Reflective Writing
As a health care professional, a vital process known as a Health Assessment which is, “the orderly collection of information concerning the patient’s/client’s health status” (Estest, 2010, p7) is used in order to formulate baseline data about a patient’s health condition and functional abilities, to then either enhance, confirm or contest data from the patient’s health history to consequently work towards establishing a plan of care for the patient. Once the health care professional has obtained this data, clinical judgment about the health status of the patient may be found to evaluate the physiological outcomes of care and identify areas for health promotion and illness prevention (Crisp & Taylor, 2009; Walsh, 2010).
There are many common frameworks and theories used for assessment in health that help nursing students understand how the roles and actions of nurses’ fit together in nursing. One of these frameworks includes Dorothea Orem’s Self Care Model in which Orem (1971) developed a definition of nursing that emphasizes the client’s self care needs. Orem defines self-care as a learned goal-orientated activity directed towards the self in the interest of maintaining life, health, development and wellbeing (Orem, 1991). Thus, the end result that Orem’s theory strived towards is to help the patient accomplish self-care. In accordance to Orem, nursing care is necessary when the patient is unable to fulfill biological, psychological, developmental or social needs. Orem’s theory to an extent, ties in with Crisp & Taylor and Walsh’s definition of health assessment, as all four to a certain degree believe that the nurse determines why a patient is unable to meet these needs, what must be done to enable the patient to meet them, and how much self-care the patient is able to perform with an ultimate end goal of nursing is to increase the client’s ability to independently meet these needs (Hartweg,
As a health care professional, a vital process known as a Health Assessment which is, “the orderly collection of information concerning the patient’s/client’s health status” (Estest, 2010, p7) is used in order to formulate baseline data about a patient’s health condition and functional abilities, to then either enhance, confirm or contest data from the patient’s health history to consequently work towards establishing a plan of care for the patient. Once the health care professional has obtained this data, clinical judgment about the health status of the patient may be found to evaluate the physiological outcomes of care and identify areas for health promotion and illness prevention (Crisp & Taylor, 2009; Walsh, 2010).
There are many common frameworks and theories used for assessment in health that help nursing students understand how the roles and actions of nurses’ fit together in nursing. One of these frameworks includes Dorothea Orem’s Self Care Model in which Orem (1971) developed a definition of nursing that emphasizes the client’s self care needs. Orem defines self-care as a learned goal-orientated activity directed towards the self in the interest of maintaining life, health, development and wellbeing (Orem, 1991). Thus, the end result that Orem’s theory strived towards is to help the patient accomplish self-care. In accordance to Orem, nursing care is necessary when the patient is unable to fulfill biological, psychological, developmental or social needs. Orem’s theory to an extent, ties in with Crisp & Taylor and Walsh’s definition of health assessment, as all four to a certain degree believe that the nurse determines why a patient is unable to meet these needs, what must be done to enable the patient to meet them, and how much self-care the patient is able to perform with an ultimate end goal of nursing is to increase the client’s ability to independently meet these needs (Hartweg,
References: Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia, ANMC, Canberra – under review. Accessed on March 16, 2012 from www.anmc.org.au. Crisp, J., & Taylor, C Crisp, J., & Taylor, C. (eds.) (2005). Potter & Perry’s fundamentals of nursing (2nd ed.). Sydney; Mosby Elsevier. pp. 66 – 67. Crisp, J., & Taylor, C. (eds.) (2009). Potter & Perry’s fundamentals of nursing (3rd ed.). Sydney; Mosby Elsevier. pp. 546 – 588. Estes, M.E.Z., (2010). Health assessment & physical examination. (4th ed.). Australia; Cengage. Estes, M.E.Z, (2010). Health assessment & Physical examination. (4th ed.). Australia; Cengage. pp. 71 – 85. Hartweg DL., Dorothea Orem: Self-care deficit theory. In McQuiston CM, Webb AA: Foundations of nursing theory, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1995, Sage Productions. Nursing Theory (2011). Dorothy E. Johnson. Accessed on March 16, 2012 from http://nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Dorothy-E-Johnson.php Orem DE: Nursing: concepts of practice, New York, 1971, McGraw-Hill. Orem DE: Nursing: concepts of practice, ed 4 New York, 1991, McGraw-Hill. Staunton, P. & Chiarella, M. (2008). Nursing and the law. 6th Edition: 188-212.