Never before has health promotion been more important than it is today. Living healthy and practicing healthy behavior is part of being a healthcare professional. In this paper I assessed my own health with the help of my family history and implemented a plan to improve my possible health risks. A major area of my own health that required intervention was my weight. Being overweight can have a negative impact on one’s health and puts a person at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes (Potter, 2006).
Although my family history did not show any signs that I have a predisposition for health related diseases (My Family Health Portrait, 2004), it does not mean I will not get them. Through my research and understanding of healthy weight loss, I was able to lose 10 pounds in two months through practicing my own health promotion. Although I could have chosen one of the other areas to improve in because the score was lower, I chose the physical assessment. This is due to the fact, that others and myself immediately see weight loss.
More often than not a person is judged on appearance, which can lead to self-esteem issues. My plan at the beginning of this health promotion was to lose no less than one pound per week and no more than two pounds per week. By committing to walking three to five times per week, I will be strengthening a healthy lifestyle that I am trying to achieve. I will also be adding the Weight Watchers diet plan to round off my implementation. One goal of the diet plan is to increase my water intake to 64 oz. every day. My current intake of water is about half of this.
Overall, I believe this plan has a great start to a beginning program. After seeing my success at the end of the two months, I was armed with the knowledge that implementing a plan and sticking with it resulted in positive outcomes in my lifestyle. I can now preach what I practice. My perceived benefits of my weight loss is overall better health. Continuing to lose weight will not only benefit myself, but my patients as well. When I become a nurse I should in my day-to-day experiences, always be promoting health, preventing illnesses, and upholding well-being.
The public sees nurses as health advocates. We have knowledge on health and illnesses, thus, we are expected to share this to laymen and contribute to their well-being (Potter). The biggest roadblock that I encountered while trying to lose weight was not having time to make the right choices. I found throughout the two months that when I did not prepare my healthy lunch and snacks, I made unhealthy choices. Leading to the conclusion that as a nurse I need to be arming my patients with the right tools for success.
Not only do nurses need to give their patients the right tools, they need to teach them how to use them in a way that fits within their lifestyle. (Potter) An activity related affect was gaining back some of the weight I had lost. There were times during this health promotion that I felt that I was on the right track. However when the scale went up, I was very hard on myself. It is a mind game that I have played with myself for so many years. It is really hard to look past the scale and focus on the positives.
As nurses we need to remind our patients that it is about the process of change. Teaching them that complete change does not happen overnight and it is the little steps that get us to the goal of a healthier person. (Potter) Having a strong support system in place helps achieving goals so much easier. My interpersonal influences helped guide me to the right choices in my food decisions. They would suggest drinking more water instead of grabbing a soda or have a side of veggies instead of fries with my meals.
Arming my support system with the knowledge I have to make better eating habit choices also changed the way they were eating. As a nurse I must involve more than just the patient in their care. Using all my evidenced-based learning, I can then pass my knowledge on to my patient and those around them to help reach their goals of better health. (Potter) I am very happy with the results of my health promotion plan. I will continue to use this plan and build upon it. Learning how to succeed with this health promotion has allowed me to gain insight on how to help my patients.
As a future nurse, I must have an evidence-based understanding of the significant effect that can be made through health promotion interventions and communicate this understanding to the public at large. As more people grow in their awareness of activities that lead to good health and become knowledgeable about their own health status and the health of their families, the overall health of the population will improve. Evaluating and practicing my own health beliefs will allow me to have the traits of authenticity and integrity with my patients.
Health promotion services are essential for improving the health of populations everywhere. People of all ages can benefit from the health promotion care, which should be delivered at sites where people spend much of their time (e. g. schools and workplaces). Nurses can develop and execute health-promoting interventions to individuals, groups, and families in schools, nursing centers, occupational health settings and the community at large. As a nurse I will work toward empowerment for self-care and enhancing the client’s capacity for self care through education and development.