Improving Health And Self Care For Multiple Reasons

In order to develop a wellness program there are several things that should be taken into consideration. First, you must develop your own personal perception of what you feel wellness is and how to stay well. Secondly, you must know what the pros and cons are for being fit. Then finally you must set immediate goals to obtain your level of wellness. The main thing you need to keep in mind is that developing a healthy life style early in life is a key factor in preventing diseases and improving one quality of life.

Establishing effective communication with the patient is a critical factor in promoting patient quality care. Good communication is fundamental when providing safe and effective care at the beside in order to increase the quality of patient care. One of the many communicative barriers that exists between patients and the healthcare team are language barriers. Language barriers are considered an initial problem of translation or code-switching. Individuals who speak different languages require a certain code breaker in order to facilitate effective communication (Gregg & Saha, 2007). Furthermore, language barriers may hinder the quality of patient care and interfere with optimal clinical outcomes. According to Happ et al., 2011, nurses have the unique responsibility to engage in communication with patients and have control over the timing and method of communication. Evidenced based interventions such as communication boards are needed to improve nurses’ communication skills in order to achieve effective communication.

In the state of Massachusetts the state law states that the emergency department patients with limited English proficiency have the right to a medical interpreter (Ginde, Clark, & Camargo, 2009). Having a medical interpreter for patients that have limited English proficiency will increase the quality of health care they receive; it also increases patient compliance and increases patient satisfaction. The use of professional interpreters is shown to decrease revisiting the emergency department, and increase this population’s use of outpatient clinics for follow up care (Ginde et al., 2009).

According to the 2011 U.S. Census, twenty-one percent of the population speaks other language at home besides English. Hence, one of the biggest challenges in Healthcare is the language barrier between the providers, Health care administrators and patients that speak foreign languages. This poses a challenge for medical entities,

Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants are receiving improper medical care because of the miscommunication. The people who cannot speak English well are misunderstood, when they go to free clinics or hospital emergency rooms and attempt to explain their symptoms and illness or cannot understand the doctors or medical profession that are trying to help them. ” Interpreters are omitting questions about drug allergies. Patients are not telling nurses the correct symptoms. A mother misunderstood by putting oral antibiotic into the ears of the child instead of the mouth. The Puerto Rican word for mumps is not the same in Central America, so a child was mistreated. A doctor mistakenly told a parent to put a steroid crème on entire child instead of just the face” (Yolanda Prtida, 2005). Language barriers in the medical field are dangerous and some times even fatal. There is definitely a need for more translators in hospitals and doctors office. Clear communication is essential for safe quality healthcare. Poor communication can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially for patients with limited or no English ability.

Can you imagine the how the healthcare industry would be without language, what seems to be impossible to imagine is the everyday reality of some patients because of their native language. Language is a major contribution to the health disparities that some populations face, because it makes it difficult for some patients to communicate their problems as well as understand the care they provided. Language contributes to the health disparities that some populations face because it creates a barrier between the patient and the care provider, making it difficult for a patient to receive proper care. Language barriers create a communication gap between a patient and a provider, forcing the patient to feel misunderstood and unable to trust his/her provider to properly care for them. I come from a family that speaks more than one language, so I have seen the impact language barriers can have on someone who doesn’t speak fluent English.

Self care is essential to the nursing profession because it is a reflection on the quality of health care nurses provide to their patients, it portrays an image to the patients on what’s necessary towards healthy living and can help nurses battle with stress and personal health. Self care can be expressed as taking care of ones self’s health and overall wellbeing. This can be shown through eating healthy, exercising daily, getting enough sleep and completing weekly activities to reduce stress. Improving your overall health can benefit nurses from overworking themselves and help minimize the affects certain stressors can have on them. By doing so, the overall atmosphere in the workplace and the quality of healthcare provided to the patients will be greatly improved.

Effective communication with patients is critical to the safety and quality care. From the last two decades ,number of researches has been conducted on the impact of language barrier on health and healthcare. It is observed that language barriers are the main cause of medical errors, complication and adverse event. But due to data limitations ,limited researches on impacts of language barrier has been conducted in Canadian setting. However, the researches conducted on other countries on the impact of language barrier on quality of care is applicable in the Canadian context. Some researches shows that there are several barrier which affect quality of care and patient safety. Now, researches has begun to know the complexity of language, culture, race, health literacy that may affect patient care. Current approaches are moved towards the knowledge of risk of language barrier rather than implementation of effective, evidence informed strategies.

Jacobs, E. A., Shepard, D. S., Suaya, J. A., Stone, E. (2004). Overcoming language barriers in health care: costs and benefits of interpreter services. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (5), 866-869.

A current pressing matter in the healthcare field is making sure that older adults understand their whole healthcare continuum. Older adults being illiterate on their health care is preventable reoccurring issue. There are many different angles for individuals in the healthcare field to limit this issue. This is sometimes not only related to a language barrier, processing issue, but sometimes a cultural barrier as well. Not all cultures understand widely held American medicine beliefs (Center for Disease Control, 2009).The Department of Health and Human Services, ( all of the D.H.H.S citation is from the article you sent me, still deciding which source to use.) article suggested a few options promoting more accessible information, addressing

According to Schyve, 2007, without comprehension of both participants, effective communication does not occur, the medical delivery of care ends or resulting in medical errors, critical to patient safety and quality of care. Language barriers include cultural differences, various manners of speaking, and poor knowledge

To determine the impact of language barriers on informed consent documentation in a clinical setting. We found from different research patients who spoke English were almost twice as likely as patients with limited English proficiency to have documentation of informed consent for 3 invasive medical procedures while hospitalized at a large urban hospital with on-site interpreter services. The relationship between primary language and informed consent documentation was not affected by patient age, gender, primary diagnosis, procedure, or medical service. The differences we found in rates of informed consent documentation between LEP and English-speaking patients are substantial and suggest disparities in the process of informed consent. Whereas

Some patients may not have the essential skills to understand, analyse, or use the information they are given to make decisions. They may not have the confidence to accomplish self-care management of their chronic conditions or ask questions to their health care providers. Patients, their families and carers need effective supports so that they can decide and articulate what kinds of care they need to do and have. For the supports, health care providers need competencies to practice patient centred self-care management. Nurses are trained and well suited to support effective self-care management for patients within primary health care settings. For nurses especially, the role of chronic condition management in Ellen’s general practice would be able to provide structured and individually reinforced education, tailored at previous knowledge, literacy level and cultural background within the adequate time frame which Ellen is privileged to offer. Self-care management intervention is the interaction between the health care provider and the patient, and the health care provider’s ability to use the patient’s knowledge and experiences to guide the consultation. The knowledge, attitudes and skills given by primary health care providers for supporting prevention and chronic condition self-care management are the core driving force for the success in effective self-care management supports (Lawn & Battersby

The risk I would like to modify, engaging in vigorous exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. I would really like to change my exercise routines, I would like to exercise more often in the morning because when I do I feel like I get more done during the day. I think it would be a great way to start my day and help me motivate myself throughout the day. By doing this one modification, I believe I will start to improve my overall health.

According to Crisp, Taylor, Douglas & Rebeiro (2012). Nurses can encourage self-management to patients dealing with chronic condition, through applying person-centred care approach. Nurses must than be able to communicate to other health care to provide services to patients with chronic illness. It is the nurse’s role to act independently and interdependently