Family Health Assessment
Introduction
Gordon functional health patterns focus on provision of a comprehensive medical assessment of patients by medical practitioners. The 11 categories featured provide a systematic and standardized data collection approach. Health perception and management pattern describes the patient’s perception of health and how they manage it. Nutritional-metabolic describes food and fluid consumption with regard to metabolic need and nutrient supply. Excretory function is explained by elimination pattern (Gordon, 1994). Pattern of exercise, leisure and recreational activities are described in activity-exercise pattern. Sensory, perceptual and cognitive patterns are also described. Sleep, rest and relaxation patterns are described under sleep-rest pattern. Role engagements and relationships and general stress coping patterns are also described. Values and belief systems that impact on decision making are described by value-belief pattern. This questions enable understand the patients’ perception of health care and their behavior toward health care promotion or destruction.
Findings
The family has a general emphasis on compliance with consumption of administered medication. However, behavior of abandoning doses without fully completely consumption is common when they feel that they are cured. Parents do not cater for regular medical check-ups and wait till any member shows symptoms of a particular disease to consult the doctor. Depending on the level and frequency of pain experienced, they decide on whether to run tests or purchase over-the-counter drugs. Therefore, their general perception of health is based of illnesses and diseases.
The family had no knowledge of the foods necessary for metabolic purposes. However, the foods and fluid they consume are quite useful in metabolic requirements. The good condition of their skin, nails, hair, eyes, height and weight indicate that they consume health foods despite the fact that they have little or no knowledge of foods with metabolic needs. However, there are few cases of skin acne, skin infection, dental disorders and eye sight problem due to genetic reasons. The mother ensures to breast feed her infants for roughly 8months. This duration is health-wise good since she covers the first 6months which are important (Gordon, 1994).
The excretory system in all family members is generally in good condition. However, there are instances of constipation due to absence of enough roughage and water consumption. Urinary tract in the father has a problem due to kidney stones. One of the children wets the bed yet he is past that age.
Family members do not engage much in sports and games with only some of the girls skipping rope once in a while to keep fit. Regular activities entail playing video games, house chores and isolated cases of farming. This is worrisome since their general cardio-vascular status is unhealthy. They have a lot of fats around their hearts with heartbeats below normal (Gordon, 1994).
There is a common eye-sight disorder of short-sightedness which is genetic. Other sensory organs are in good condition leading to critical decision making regarding family matters, enhanced memory capacity, and fluency in language and communication.
There were complaints of insomnia mostly by the females in the family. Other sleep disorders like hypnagogic hallucinations were diagnosed in children as well as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome in the elderly.
Self-esteem levels varied among family members. Some children had extremely low self-esteem and felt their bodies were not good enough. Others were comfortable with their body shape, posture and general looks hence average self-esteem. There were those who depicted behavior that showed extremely high self-esteem such that they made fun of others.
There are diverse family roles for each family member. Generally family members get along well with few cases of sibling rivalry which is common and normal. Incidents of loss of relatives have to some extent lead to broken communication between some family members tampering with existent good relationship (Gordon, 1994).
Members were satisfied with their sexual partners although there were complaints of pain by some during sexual intercourse. Relaxation, medication, and psychological attention are ways used by most family members in coping with stressful matters. According to their religious beliefs and value systems, right to life is sacred and is most important. However, their catholic beliefs are against health issues like family planning and assisted reproduction.
Wellness nursing diagnoses
Health-seeking behavior and effective therapeutic regimen management are necessary and should be enhanced. This will ensure that regular check-ups are conducted and that dosage completion requirements are complied with by family members. This will eventually increase emphasis and diversification on health perception and management.
Family requires enhanced nutritional metabolic pattern, enhanced skin integrity and altered dentition. This is because there is little knowledge on foods and fluids that enhance metabolism and there cases of skin acne and infections. Altered dentition will take care of dental disorders like dental caries complaints.
There is altered urinary elimination, disorganized infant behavior and bowel incontinence. Altered urinary elimination is due to kidney stones in the father that lead to urine being passed out in small amounts and frequently. Child wetting the bed depicts disorganized infant behavior. Bowel incontinence is shown through complains of diarrhea and constipation. This will require enhanced bowel and urinary elimination patterns (Gordon, 1994).
Enhanced cardiac output, diversion activity pattern, enhanced activity-exercise pattern, and home maintenance management are required. These wellness diagnoses will deal with decreased cardiac output and limited exercise activities in the family. It will therefore improve the functioning of vital body organs like the heart and lungs.
Enhanced sensory and comfort level is necessary in dealing with genetic short-sightedness disorder in the family. This will require increased consumption of foods with vitamin A and also use of spectacles to enhance eye sight (Gordon, 1994).
Enhanced sleep and rest is required through measures like cognitive-behavioral therapy, progesterone-estrogen therapy, and continuous positive pressure therapy are required to deal with specific persistent sleep disorders diagnosed in family members. Progesterone-estrogen therapy is necessary in elderly and pregnant women while cognitive-behavioral therapy should be used in treating hypnagogic hallucinations.
Enhanced self-perception, self-concept, and self-esteem are necessary in dealing with cases of low-self esteem in some children in the family. Diagnoses like hopelessness, fear, powerlessness, disturbed body image, and disturbed personal identity are evident in persons with low self-esteem.
Enhancement in relationships, parenting, communication and grieving are necessary. Parenting will enable deal with impaired parenting evident through cases of child rivalry. Communication and grieving will deal with dysfunctional grieving that will promote good relationships between family members hence dealing with interrupted family processes.
Enhanced sexual patterns are necessary in dealing with unilateral neglect, acute pain and chronic pain experienced during sexual intercourse (Gordon, 1994). These pains are due to diverse reasons such as psychological traumas like rape, female genital mutilations or sexually transmitted infections.
Coping with stress requires individual, family and community effort. It is therefore necessary to enhance individual and family coping processes like relaxation, communication and psychological therapy to deal with individual and family ineffectiveness in stress coping.
Values and beliefs have an impact on decision making regarding health issues. Spiritual well-being is therefore necessary in increasing virtuous value systems and beliefs in patients. This ensures that patients value life and take responsibility in taking care of their lives through enhanced health promotion and management.
Reference
Gordon, M. (1994). Nursing: Process and application (3rd Ed.). St Louis: Mosby.
