Importance Of Patient Assessment In Nursing

By carrying out an assessment nurses can identify the causes of problems that require medical involvement. Nettina (2006)

Thank you for taking time to read my letter. As a nursing student of University of Technology Sydney, I studied contemporary indigenous subject this semester. In this letter I want to illustrate 3 main social determinants of health that impact indigenous Australian health which I found and analysed during my recently study. And also offer some suggestion that could help the government improve aboriginal Australian mental health conditions in the future.

Nursing process is a systematic process that involves a continuous cycle of five interrelated phases: holistic assessment of a client, nursing diagnoses, nursing care planning, implementation, and evaluation (Wilkinson et al. 2015). It enables nurses to assess the person’s health status and health care needs, to create plans to meet the identified needs, and to provide and evaluate individualised nursing interventions according to the person’s needs (Luxford 2015). The holistic assessment is the first step of the nursing process that includes the collection of subjective and objective data related to the physical, psychological, social, developmental, cultural, and spiritual status of a client (Wilkinson et al. 2015). This comprehensive approach to nursing assessment is essential because it allows nurses to comprehend not only clients’ health status, but also their routines and needs in order to incorporate their life-styles into the care interventions (Luxford 2015). It ultimately enables nurses to provide appropriate quality person-centred care rather than nurse-initiated care (Luxford 2015). Responsibility for holistic nursing assessment is supported by the Registered nurse standards for practice (2016), ‘Standard 4.1: The registered nurse conducts assessments that are holistic as well as culturally appropriate’ (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA] 2016, p. 4). This essay will discuss the elements and the importance of holistic assessment in nursing.

The aim of this study is to provide a detailed account of the nursing care for a patient who is experiencing a breakdown in health. One aspect of their care will be discussed in relation to the nursing process. The model used to provide an individualised programme of care will be discussed and critically analysed.

It is widely known that early recognition of a deteriorating patient can contribute largely to a successful outcome, through recognising and taking action on the deteriorating health status of the patient (National Consensus Statement, 2010). This report will explore the ways in which deteriorating patients and clinical reasoning are used in the public health care system in New South Wales (NSW).

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in depth exploration of the nursing care considerations of patients in a specific clinical area. Through the synthesis of prior knowledge, clinical experiences and skills, evidence based best practices, and care of patients a comprehensive care and teaching plan will be composed. Integration of critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills, combined with evidence-based research will provide confirmation of nursing process comprehension. The inclusion of reviewed literature will further support knowledge and understanding.

The knowledge of nursing sensitive indicator can be helpful in providing the patient care which meets the quality and ethical standards. Nursing sensitive indicators rely on evidence to take patient care decisions (Patrician, 2010). According to Patrician (2010), Evidence Based Nursing is the use of personal expertise and research to take decisions on patient care. In case of Mr. J, there is a clear lack of evidence based nursing. Mr. J was kept in restraint without considering that Mr. J was not trying to get out of bed by himself. When the pressure ulcer was identified, the nurse

The colonial occupation and subsequent oppression has a greatly impact to the health of indigenous population across Australia. There is still lapses in regards to biomedical and ethnomedical models of health that still needed to work on in order to provide the quality care that is culturally appropriate and acceptable by the indigenous

This piece of work will be based on the pre-assessment process that patients go through on arrival to an endoscopy unit in which I was placed in during my second year studying Adult diploma Nursing. I will explore one patient’s holistic needs, identifying the priorities of care that the patient requires; I will then highlight a particular priority and give a rational behind this. During an admission I completed under the supervision of my mentor I was pre-assessing a 37 year old lady who had arrived to the unit for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During the pre-assessment it was important that a holistic assessment is performed as every patient is an individual with unique care needs as the patient outline in this piece of work has

Clinical reasoning is embedded in nurses’ thinking for patient care (Levett-Jones 2013). It is a spiral, continuous mental process, underpinned by critical thinking theory and a sound body of nursing knowledge (Levett-Jones 2013). The clinical reasoning cycle includes considering patient’s situation, collecting cues, processing information, identifying problems, establishing goals, taking action, evaluating outcomes and reflecting on the process undertaken (Levett-Jones 2013). Nursing practice for registered nurses is guided both by the National Competency Standard (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2006) and the Nursing Practice Decision Flowchart (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia 2010) to ensure patients’ safety and to optimise care by challenging medical assumptions and facilitating evidence-based practice. The clinical reasoning framework, therefore, allows nurses to prioritise the most time sensitive and specific information, to recognise deteriorating patients and to manage complex clinical situations (Levett-Jones & Bourgeois 2011). This paper will focus on processing information and identifying the two major problems in the case study of Mr. Brown, a 74-year-old man, who was admitted to hospital after a ‘fainting’ episode with chief complaint of dizziness.

With the health care system changing so rapidly, it is important that nurses are autonomous. It is necessary, as patient advocates, that we understand the cause and effect of all entities involving our patients. Critical thinking and making the correct judgment call clinically is vital. A patient situation which comes to mind is an 86 year old female, weighing 50kg, Vital Signs: Blood Pressure: 80/50, Heart Rate: 102 (Sinus Tachycardia), Respirations:

This assignment will critically analyse and justify the decisions based around a fictitious patient using a clinical decision making framework highlighting its importance to nursing practice. The chosen model will demonstrate clinical decision making skills in the care planning process. The patient’s condition will be discussed in-depth explaining the pathophysiology, social, cultural and ethical issues where appropriate in the care planning and decision making process. Any vulnerability that the patient may experience will be discussed and dealt with in the care planning and decision making process. The supporting evidence based literature will be analysed and

This essay sets out to discuss the importance of comprehensive and accurate assessment on a registered nurses’ ability to make excellent clinical decisions. It will examine what factors can change a nurses’ capability to be aware of, and act on abnormal assessment findings. As well as assessment being part of the nursing process that is used in every day nursing, it is also a critical part of patient safety (Higgins, 2008). Assessment findings are used to determine what needs to be done for the patient next. Early warning scoring systems currently exist to aid in the early detection of patient deterioration (Goldhill, 2005). The rationale for the use of these systems is that early recognition of deterioration in the vital signs of a

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate the assessment process of a patient using the Roper Logan and Tierney (RLT) model of nursing framework and to show how the nursing process works alongside this model. This will be shown by a holistic history of the patient being shown, followed by how the RLT model is applicable to this patient. This is then followed by one nursing intervention being discussed showing how the nursing process is applied to patient care. The patient will be referred to as Mr Frederick Valentine to protect the patient’s anonymity as stated in the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct (2008) guidelines.

Lily was a 65 year old lady with stage 5 CKD, she had recently begun hemodialysis treatment three times a week as an inpatient and had been responding well to treatment. During dialysis treatment on the morning of the first day, Lily’s observations showed that she was: tachycardic, hypotensive, tachypnoeaic, had an oxygen saturation level of 88% and was becoming confused and drowsy. It became apparent that Lily had become hypovolaemic. The hypovolaemic shock seen in this patient was of a particular critical nature due to the fact that her dialysis treatment had moved her rapidly through the first two stages of shock with her compensatory mechanisms failing very quickly (Tait, 2012). It was also much harder to identify the early signs of