Essay on Gordon's Functional Health Pattern Assessment

Thus, the aim of this paper is to assess the determinants of health that affect a specific client by taking into account Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns. Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns provides an effective framework for evaluating the many factors that can affect an individual in his or her day-to-day life. This method was developed by Majory Gordon in 1987, and used as a guideline for establishing a comprehensive nursing assessment. By using these specific categories, health care professionals are able to create a standardized method to collect data in order to determine aspects of health and

* Colorado Springs is very health driven community. There are hundreds of hiking trails and free places to get outside in the community.

2. It is also important for parents establish a routine of physical fitness into the child’s life. You could go for walk, go hiking, bike riding, or got them involved in sports at your local YMCA. If physical activity is not a part of the family’s life, it may be difficult for the child to pick up these habits and could be just an ongoing issue that gets passed on through generations.

Health assessment is also vital in collecting information in the nursing process. In order to collect data in a systematic and standardized approach, and enable the nurse to determine different aspects of health and human function, the Gordon Functional Health Patterns which have 11 categories are usually used as a framework of the assessment.

According to Stanhope and Lancaster (2008) “Each family is an unexplained mystery, unique in the ways it meets the needs of its members and society” (p. 550). Family nursing is a special field that involves the nurse and family working together to achieve progress for the family and its members in adjusting to transitions and responding to health and illness. The Friedman Family Assessment Model serves as a guide in family nursing to identify the developmental stage of the family, environmental data, family structure, composition, and functions as well as how the family manages stress and their coping mechanisms. From this data, three nursing diagnoses with interventions are developed.

Family Assessment The family chosen for this assignment are family friends who agreed to conduct the interview and discuss any health issues they had. Because some of the questions were fairly invasive into their private lives, no names are given. There are five members in the family, and they all participated in the interview. Questions are based on the eleven functional health patterns.

Father, son and daughter Johnson tolerate physical activity very well and all have shared a lifelong interest in swimming and biking. All would agree that regular exercise reduces stress and improves coping abilities for them. Mother however has never participated in regular physical fitness and does not tolerate strenuous activities very well. Strenuous activities are avoided now primarily because of the (bladder) stress incontinence problem she has. She denies feeling any benefits of stress reduction when she is active (Johnson family, personal communication, June 24, 2012).

Family health assessment is an integral part of the formula used in creating a customized plan of care for the families’ health care. Family health assessment is also a tool that can be used to identify and evaluate the family’s health concerns, their life style and also helping families make good decisions regarding their family’s health. Family’s perception towards health and health promotion could be very different and unique, which makes the Family health assessment even more challenging for the nurses and health care professionals. Nurse’s have a moral obligation towards the society to help them promote their families health. The

1. Readiness for enhanced regular activity: related to planned exercise activity in the week for the family to improve overall health.

List two potential problems that a nurse may discover in an assessment of each age group.

A comprehensive family assessment provides a foundation to promote family health (Edelman & Mandle, 2011). 1987 Marjorie Gordon purposed 11 functional health patterns to use for guidance in order to facilitate nurses to have a frame work for the family assessment in. Gordon’s 11 functional health patterns help organizes basic family assessment information. This standardized format will guide nurses to complete the family assessment using system approaches, which will identify a patient’s

As the society we live in continues to transform, nurses need a comprehensive tool to assess family’s health patterns. Family units are influenced by environment, biological, mental, social and spiritual factors. Assessing these areas for health promotion and disease prevention will take all of these influences into consideration (Edelman & Mandle, 2010). A priority to a family focused health assessment approach is to adequately question, assess and examine these areas. A tool to assist a family health assessment using a family focused approach is Gordon’s 11 Functional Patterns. This paper will use these 11

Activity and exercise assessment is focused on the activities of ADL’s, exercise and leisure activities (Kriegler & Harton, 1992). Activities and exercise is limited in this family due to the parents work schedule. The father runs and exercises both at home and at the YMCA when time allows, which is a few times a week. The grandmothers mobility is limited due to balance issues, although she is participating in physical therapy at the present time for strengthening. They don’t feel they exercise enough although they know how important it is for them to exercise especially with their diabetes. Normal ADL 's are a minor problem for the grandmother although the grandfather helps her. The parents function at a high level with every day activities.

Assessment, the first step in the nursing process, is a concept that must grasped in order for nurses to possess the solid foundation required to develop a plan and provide optimal care to their patients. This assessment is significant not only to individual patients, but their families, who are becoming increasingly recognized for their significance to the health and well being of individual family members. Nurses use a variety of tools in family nursing, and one of the most significant includes the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM), developed by Wright and Leahey. CFAM is an integrated conceptual framework used for interviewing and making

In this paper the subject to identify is a family assessment using the Friedman Family Assessment Model, including three nursing diagnosis.