Health Assessment Discussion Essay
Health Assessment Discussion Essay
The topic this week asks you to apply what you have learned to the following case study. As the school nurse working in a college health clinic, you see many opportunities to promote health. Maria is a 40-year-old Hispanic who is in her second year of nursing school. She complains of a 14-pound weight gain since starting school and is afraid of what this will do to both her appearance and health if the trend continues. After conducting her history, you learn that she is an excellent cook and she and her family love to eat foods that reflect their Hispanic heritage. She is married with two school-age children. She attends class a total of 15 hours per week, plus she must be present for 12 hours of labs and clinical. She maintains the household essentially by herself and does all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, and chauffeuring of the children. She states that she is lucky to get 6 hours of sleep per night, but that is okay with her. She lives 1 hour from campus and commutes each day. Using Healthy People 2020 and your text as a guide, answer the following questions. 1.What additional information would you like to gather from Maria? 2. What are Maria’s real and potential health risks? 3. Why is Maria’s culture important when obtaining the health assessment? 4.Pick one of Maria’s health risks. What would be one reasonable short-term goal for this risk? 5.What nursing interventions would you incorporate into Maria’s plan of care to assist her with meeting your chosen goal? Please provide rationale for your selections. Health Assessment Discussion Essay
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- Additional information
In addition to the information that has already been collected, there is a need to collect additional information that focuses on Maria’s current habits. This includes any known medical condition she is suffering from, medication being taken, past surgeries, daily eating habits, and daily physical activity. Also, there is a need for information on the support systems she can access, the ages of her children and other family members living in the same house, her mental status, and how she spends her free time. This information would offer a better understanding of the health problems the patient reported as well as their possible causes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Health Assessment Discussion Essay
- Maria’s health risks
Maria has reported that she does not sleep well, is often fatigued and has gained weight. These are all concerns since they increase her risk of developing anxiety, depression, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obesity, joint diseases, insomnia, headaches, peptic disease, high blood pressure, and heart ailments. Her eating habits and diet could have contributed to her unhealthy weight. Also, the family and school responsibilities could result in an unfavorable mental state causing her to lose sleep and gain weight (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). Overall, the eating habits, lifestyle, and responsibilities act as potential health risks for Maria.
- Importance of her culture
Maria’s culture is important because it influences her health beliefs and habits. To be more perceive, it influences how she receives health information and a willingness to use the information. For instance, Hispanics have a fatalistic view of ill health, considering that it is God’s will resultant of past actions. As such, Maria could accept the presented diagnosis but may have a problem with accepting the treatment, preferring to use folk healers and home remedies (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015).
- Pick one of Maria’s health risks.
Obesity is one of Maria’s health risks since she has been complaining of gaining weight. A reasonable goal for obesity would entail reducing the risk of weight gain by engaging in scheduled daily supervised exercise programs, eating a well-balanced diet, and drinking approximately two liters of water every day (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). Health Assessment Discussion Essay
- Nursing interventions
The nursing intervention to address the possibility of obesity occurring and reduce the risk of weight gain would first entail identifying Maria’s body mass index (BMI) and determining how far it deviates from an ideal healthy weight. Next, the patient would be educated on weight management to include barriers, self-care. This would be followed by an appropriate weight management program would be implemented that could include medication (Orlistat – anti-obesity medication), surgery, diet and nutrition, physical exercise. Finally, the patient would undergo regular assessments to determine the effectiveness of the interventions and whether they should be adjusted (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015).
References
Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2015). Public Health Nursing: Population-centered health care in the community, (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2018). Healthy People 2020 topics and objectives: Objectives A-Z. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives Health Assessment Discussion Essay
