Effective Family Nursing

Completing a family assessment is a very important aspect of health care because the family is a crucial component to the patient’s recovery and sense of well-being. By using the Calgary Family Assessment model to evaluate the A family, we have been able to assess all of the different components to the family in a manner that is relative to nursing. The interview process allowed us to examine the family dynamic in regards to their developmental stages, interpersonal relationships, communication, problem solving, family functioning, and their own strengths and weaknesses. Assessing each of these components to a family allows the nurse to put together the big picture of how the family dynamic is accommodating toward the patient, as well as how

All health care providers are familiar or have some idea of what family focused care entails. Family focused care can be practiced in any settings in healthcare, and nurses are familiar with this concept as this strong theory based teaching is emphasized throughout the nursing curriculum. With the trend of health care delivery shifting towards home based or community setting, it is now more than ever important for nurses and advance practice nurses (APN) to incorporate family nursing practice for improved outcomes for the patient and their families. This paper will discuss one of the many family nursing theory and its impact on the family nursing practice now and in the future.

Their normal everyday functioning is compromised as family time is spent in the hospital supporting their burned loved one (Phillips, Fussell &. Rumsey, 2007). The Registered Nurse accepting the role of a facilitator can implement “family time”, in which the family will participate in an activity of their choice. This facilitation will help bring the family back together and reform the cohesive family unit. Family members often do not understand what is going on with their burned family member, and have questions that have not been acknowledged or addressed (Phillips et al., 2007). To bridge this gap the Registered Nurse can implement family meetings that establish a safe and secure environment to foster validation of emotional responses and answer any questions the family has. In addition to the family’s questions, the Registered Nurse can encourage family members to be involved in delivering care to the patient and each other in an effort to combat poor adaptation to familial changes resulting in stress (Phillips et al., 2007). Three nursing strategies to ameliorate stress that families experience in response to a burn injury include facilitating family time, leading family meetings, and encouraging family members to be caregivers for the patient and each other.

As nurses, we have an innate ability to care for others. Because of this, we find that we have put others before ourselves, which makes for compassionate and empathetic nursing care, but can lead to internal downfalls. There is a shift for the nurse, when providing nurturing care for patients becomes difficult. The downfalls are seen after repeated exposure to stressful work environments, work overload, lack of recognition and the repeated exposure to patients suffering, which nurses attempted to relieve. With advancements in healthcare, prolonging of life, increasing physical and emotional needs from patients and their families and the aging of American, nurses have an increase in stressors and demands.

Kaakinen et a. (2015) states every family has a story about how the potential or actual health event influences its individual members, family functioning, and management of the health event. Nurses are charged with gathering, sifting, organizing, and analyzing the data to craft a clear view of the family’s story. Family assessment begins from the first moment that the family is referred to the nurse. It is important for nurses to filter data gathered in the story through different views or approaches, which affects how we think about the family as a whole and each individual family member.

Family centered care is a belief that the health care staff and the family should work together in order to meet the needs of the patient. By working together, the patient receives the best care while respecting the choices of the family. Nurses must provide dignity and respect by listening to values, beliefs, and cultural backgrounds to provide the best care plan (St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, n.d.). Nurses must communicate unbiased, accurate information to the patient and their family in order to facilitate decision making. Nurses need to encourage and support the family’s decisions. We must recognize that each family is unique. We must acknowledge that emotional, developmental, and social support are important components of a patient’s health care. There are several approaches to family nursing to take into consideration. These are: Family as Context, Family as Client, Family as System, and Family as Component of Society (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015). In this paper, I will explain each of these approaches and give a personal example of patients and families I have experienced these approaches with.

Family as client, seeks understanding and knowledge on how the health of one affects the family unit. This approach to family nursing is something close to my heart. Four years ago, my husband was a prominent successful business man. He was the owner of the family restaurant that had been in the family for 100 years. Our marriage was a typical burnt out marriage, not enough hours in the day for everyone. We have two children, Nodyia 29, married in Oregon, then there is Vito Jr. 15 (now) and intellectually developmentally delayed. My husband is affectionately known as Big Vito to everyone, and loved by all, after all he is the life of everyone’s party. That

The family nursing assessment guide is valuable in tailoring appropriate interventions that respond to the client’s complex needs. This ensures all factors concerning health, relationships and other personal issues are acknowledged and are able to offer possible solutions that may include support and services from external resources. The assessment will also provide an overview of the level of function and responsibility of each family members including

Conclusion: Caring is not only the core and essence of nursing practice but rather a holistic calling. Nurses must continue to cultivate an environment that allows for self- reflection and promote healing. Nurses must also continue to prove their commitment to patients through education, collaboration with patients, families and others who are also caring for the patients. Advanced education equally plays a substantial role in improving quality of care. Therefore, it is imperative for nurses to continue to expand their knowledge and

Citing a lack of research into a family's experiences during a member's stay in an intensive care facility (ICU), the authors sought to contribute to a better understanding of how a family nurse can provide care to the family unit during the hospitalization stay. The philosophical and experimental approaches chosen were family systems theory and phenomenological research, respectively, with the former viewing families as interdependent systems and the latter investigating the lived-experience of family members from the perspective of family members. Of the 11 families participating in the study, only one chose to be interviewed individually rather than as a group. Family members were interviewed about their interactions with other family members and hospital staff during the hospitalization, in addition to collecting demographic information. Individual experiences were also collected, but the emphasis of the study was on the family as a whole. The authors discovered that nursing staff can have a profound impact on the lived experience of family members during a member's stay in the ICU. Making connections, taking the time to convey and explain a patient's status and prognosis, and relating to both family and patients as people, were viewed by family members as making the difference between a bearable and unbearable ordeal. The lack of connection or recognition by nursing staff was interpreted as aggravating the already intense

To keep good communication with the family as well as the patient and respect each role that the family members play. It is imperative to remember that families may deal with a crisis in many ways and as a nurse it important to respect that.

Caring for families and their different traits along with the patient can be extremely complex. I can’t agree with you more on that. After doing the research and reading from our book for this discussion board, I am recognizing that the nursing profession is complex in itself. I never really realized just how instrumental our roles are on the whole dynamic of family care nursing. I hope I don’t sound unknowing, immature or silly in that statement but after reading your post Natalie and learning from the readings it just dawned on me how important all of our nursing roles are to the health and wellbeing of the families, not just the patients. Family nursing is center on the whole family unit

According to the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) it is important to analyze and assess families as a whole in order to come up with a working diagnosis and nursing plan (RNAO, 2006). Families are important because they play a huge role in the patients recovery as they can affect the clients health in a positive or negative way. When caring for a client it is good to include the family in your care plan, because family centered care looks at the patient from a holistic angle (Hutchfield, 1999). The care plan not only focuses on the clients disease, it is also considers the surrounding systems. This paper will discuss the results of two home visits I conducted' after getting the clients' (Mrs.

In the biology field there are many professions that are essential to the world, one being nursing. Nursing is related to the health and science field, and requires skill, knowledge, and perseverance to understand. Caring for people who can no longer help themselves is the main essence of nursing. As a nurse, their job is to treat patients to the best of their abilities. Nursing is probably one of the hardest professions in the world because it can become physically and emotionally draining. Nursing can be viewed as many different things, but ultimately they all have one desire in common. As the population is continually increasing, nursing is always high in demand. Nursing can best be described as the “protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association). A nurse’s job can be very special, but it is their duty to ensure that the patients are cared for. Nurses are unique individuals that focus their profession on caring for people. In patient’s weakest or strongest battles, nurses will always provide comfort for them. Nursing provides emotional stability, flexibility, variability, employability, respect, servitude, physical endurance, and more. All of these characteristics and admirations come from the load of being a nurse. A

The family health nurse providing care in the community must integrate community involvement and knowledge about the population with their personal and clinical comprehension of health and illness experiences of individuals and families within a population (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Harmon Hanson, 2015).