Gordon’s functional health pattern assessment is a tool that nurses can use to analyze a person’s whole being that incorporates every aspect of that person. Through this approach, nurses can ensure that holistic care is provided. The Boretzky family was therefore interviewed to analyze each functional health patterns in order for the nurse to identify two wellness nursing diagnosis that could help the family live an optimal lifestyle. Functional Health Pattern Findings The Boretzky family is a well-educated family which showed during the interview in regards to health maintenance/perception, nutritional pattern, and exercise pattern.
During the interview both Staci and Barry, mentioned the correlation of healthy living with healthy diet that incorporates the recommended food pyramid and regular exercise into their daily routine. “To promote a healthy lifestyle I make sure to take a multivitamin every day, eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables and stay active by going to the gym every day. When possible, I also try and get a good amount of sleep every night” (S. Boretzky, personal communication, September 5, 2012).
Moreover, both children also correlated the intake of foods high in fiber to maintain a regular elimination pattern. This shows that the parents have ingrained healthy habits in their children while growing up and was strengthen with education. Level of knowledge in regards to healthy living is a major factor that nurses need to know in order for the nurse to be a successful educator. By finding out baselines, nurses can tailor their education on what the client actually needs, thus providing an individualized, holistic care.
Great post to read – Family Health Assessment
The Boretzky family needs no guidance in regards to physical health, on the other hand, in regards to coping with stress, dealing with sleep deprivation, and dealing with pain, they can learn a few things to aid them in enhancing their life. According to the interview, both Staci and Barry know that a good amount of sleep is an essential part of living a healthy life, however, emphasis and energy in attaining this is spent more on maximizing life experiences, which attributes to the loss of good rest. “I can’t really say I do any routines to ensure a restful sleep because I don’t sleep much.
This is a big problem I need to fix because I sometimes don’t even get a functional amount of rest for the next day. I do know that I need to change this or else I could face some consequences. However, I always find something that needs to be done prior to sleeping” (B. Boretzky, personal communication, September, 5, 2012). The nurse also found out that Staci and Barry, during stressful situations, tend to deal with their stress either through yelling, keeping to themselves, or removing themselves from the situation, and that pain is essentially ignored.
Such finding will queue the nurse in focusing on helping them find ways to increase sleep and maximize rest, provide tools of other coping mechanism that will aid both of them in dealing with stress in a healthier way, and find alternatives in dealing with their pain that is acceptable to them both. Values and beliefs in regards to religion do not necessarily impact their decisions and judgment, if anything else, values on exercise and healthy eating habits are their focus in their daily routine, which was apparent in the interview.
Although their parents practice Catholicism, their children did not retain their value of religion and prayer. While they found no value in religion, importance in family is apparent. According to both of them, the roles they play in regards to themselves and family are an important aspect of their self-satisfaction. They are well attuned to their inner self, that self-perception and self-esteem is not a major problem. Knowing that they are not perfect and are able to point out their mistakes and thus able to adapt and accept is a testament to their strong psyche.
Being attuned to themselves also aided them in being satisfied with their sexuality. Both correlated healthy mental status with sexual satisfaction. Wellness Nursing Diagnosis Sleep pattern disturbance is an appropriate nursing diagnosis for Staci. “I do not have a routine, which is probably why I do not get a peaceful sleep. I need to learn how to sleep without the television on, which I think would be extremely helpful” (S. Boretzky, personal communication, September 5, 2012).
Through this statement, the nurse should tailor a care plan that aids Staci in finding routines and practices that will work for her in attaining a restful night such as calming bath, quite environment, removal of stimuli such as televisions, meditation, etc. While sleep pattern disturbance diagnosis is appropriate for Staci, sleep deprivation is much more appropriate for Barry, based on the interview, since he mentioned forgoing sleep in order to finish tasks deem more important than sleep.
Barry mentioned knowing the importance of sleep in regards to health, but failed to achieve restful sleep. Through the use of functional health pattern assessment, insufficient amount of sleep has been highlighted as a common Boretzky family problem that the nurse needs to focus on since sleep is a detrimental part of healthy living. “Sleep repairs the physical body to improve and maintain general health, consolidate learning and memory, and recharge the psychological batteries to maintain emotional balance and well-being” (Ohlmann & O’Sullivan, 2009, p. 81).
Ineffective family coping: compromised is another wellness nursing diagnosis that applies to the Boretzky family. Findings from the interview highlighted that stress coping mechanism was insufficient for all. Keeping things to themselves, yelling, and removing themselves from the situation is not a healthy way to deal with issues when they arise. Therefore, nurses need to assist them in finding ways that work for them as a family and as an individual in order to be successful in aiding them on coping with their problems as a family.
Each person is unique and therefore will deal with stress and problems in different ways. Each member of the family learns coping mechanisms from each other and adapt to each other in that way. Nursing assessment determines the health status of individuals thus, behavior patterns, beliefs, perceptions, and values form the essential components of health assessment when maximal health potential of the individual is considered by nurses (Edelman ; Mandle, 2010).
Therefore, Gordon’s health pattern assessment is an essential tool that nurses should incorporate when caring for patients and their family. Through this comprehensive assessment, a clear picture is painted that touches on each person’s physical, mental, psychosocial, and environmental factors, thus aiding nurses in caring for said patient holistically because it incorporates the totality of the person.