The Role Of Pediatric Nurses And How They Impact Their Clients Essay

From a pediatric perspective, the family is an integral part of the healthcare team. Parents are the primary ally and resource in providing individualized care for their child. Even in adult patients, who they are is impacted by the relationships that they have. Serious or chronic illnesses and injuries affect the entire family. The family, then, becomes the patient, particularly when it is necessary to make lifestyle changes.

Nurses often use the aspect of time as an excuse not to conduct a family interview, however, Wright and Leahey (2009) clearly demonstrate how integrating families into patient care does not have to consume a lot of time. Using the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) and Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM), a family interview can be organized and conducted in a less amount of time, and end in a greater understanding of the patient and family. The CFAM contains three major categories including structural, developmental, and functional, which can be used to assess a family or help them address a specific health issue (Wright & Leahey, 2009). The CFIM uses assessments focusing on strengths, meaning that it uses the strengths of each individual family member, and the unit as a whole to provide positive interventions. This allows the interventions to focus on encouraging the family, rather than their deficits or dysfunctions (Wright and Leahey, 2009). During the 15-minute interview, it is suggested to have the entire family present so that the interviewer is able note reactions and collaborate with each family member, thus providing the most acceptable plan of care for the entire family.

Including the client as an expert member of the team creates an enhanced quality of care (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). In pediatrics, parents are often at the center of the child’s care. When asked to define what made the client care experience positive, parents stated that sensitivity, empathy and honesty were key factors (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). Working in healthcare, nurses can become desensitized to difficult experiences because they deal with them daily. Integrating the client and family as part of the healthcare team, allows the nurse to see the patient and family as a people first. By avoiding using illness as context, and instead using person as context, care will be more holistic (Coad, Patel & Murray, 2014). A family-focused approach helps to ensure that the whole family feels a part of the experience and is valued. In the case of bereavement, family centered care is particularly important. If the family is not included in the care from the start, it can provide barriers for grieving and impact how the family deals with loss (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). Nurses have an opportunity to help support the family through the grief process (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). Families have a significant impact on how the client heals, so by caring for the family’s needs, the nurse is indirectly caring for the patient. It is in the client’s best interest for the care to be holistic for the patient as well as the family (Jones, Contro & Koch, 2014). All

Another big role in a pediatric nurse’s job is telling the parents disturbing news when it is necessary. Telling the family any bad news is more of a process than anyone might think. The pediatric nurse responsible for this task must first think ahead, plan for the worse, and plan for the reaction of the family. The pediatric nurse must set time apart from their busy day to be able to spend it with the family of the patient. One is never sure how the family will react or how long it will take to explain all the details and answer all the family’s questions. , According to Crawford in his journal “It is also helpful in many cases to have a witness to what was actually said as sometimes, despite all the care and attention to detail, mixed messages can be conveyed” (Crawford 3). In the article, it also states that the pediatric nurse should give open and honest information to the family. The nurse should start the conversation off letting the family know that they are here to support and encourage. The nurse should be straight forward from there on out and should refrain from using elaborate or confusing words with the child’s family. The nurse should avoid not only confusing the family but also excuses, jargon, elaborate reasoning, and the temptation to speed through the bad news without making 100 percent positive the family understands what they are being told. When the nurse has properly told the family the bad news, he or she must

The article goes on to address the importance of specifically designing practices related to family centered care in the pediatric setting. Four recommendations are set forth in this guideline: family visitation, family centered rounds, family presence during CPR and invasive procedures, and family conferences. Recurrent themes in these areas are listening to and respect the family. communication of information and answering questions, education, and collaboration in developing treatment. While most of the information in this article is focused on the parents and ill child, many of the suggestions are applicable and adaptable to siblings (Meert, Clark, & Eggly, 2013).

-A succinct philosophy of family nursing is seen in The Association for the Care of Children’s Health standards stating the expectation for healthcare providers to facilitate family/professional collaboration at all levels of care, and to recognizing family as the constant in the patient’s life whereas the healthcare providers will fluctuate (p.40, 2003).

This practice ensures meaningful roles for all family members and it provides the family the opportunity to participate in the decision making process and in developing a plan. The family centered approach is based on respect, honesty, and open communication between the family and service providers. This model strives to focus on the entire family's needs and not solely on the child's needs, it tailors services to meet the needs of the families and it empowers families by allowing them to be part of the treatment planning phase (Estefan, Coulter, VandeWeerd, Armstrong & Gorski,

“Family-centered care” is a term heard often in healthcare settings and in nursing practice. Family-centered care has been recognized as being an integral part to patient health, satisfaction and health care quality (Kuo, et al, 2012). Family-centered care is implemented with the goal to increase partnerships between, families, patients and providers; and has been prioritized as a core-concept of quality healthcare (Gallo, Hill, Hoagwood & Olin, 2016) Many professionals, however, would be hard-pressed to state what the term “family-centered care” actually means and how it applies to nursing practice. They would be at a loss for how to implement family-centered care and what is absolutely necessary to have in order for family-centered care to be successful. Advanced practice nurses are faced with the challenge of adhering to family-centered care in their practice. Illness, both chronic and acute, and health does not just affect the patient involved in care. Illness and health affect the patient, their children, their spouses, their parents, their brothers, their sisters, their grandparents and anyone else involved in their life. Research by Davidson (2009) supports the idea that the perceived effectiveness of communication between healthcare providers and the patient’s family is related to the overall satisfaction of care. Advance

Pediatric nursing does not only consist of caring for and building a trusting relationship with a patient, but a relationship must also be established with the family. Incorporating both the patient and family as the center of care is important for numerous reasons. By not just addressing the patient but involving the family as a whole, it creates an environment filled with empowerment, safety, and minimal distress. No two families are alike and each have their own unique needs that need to be acknowledged throughout the plan of care. This focus must be incorporated when constructing the individual care plan for teaching the patient and family about the preventative, supportive, and management interventions needed to help diminish

In addition, Kilkelly U & Donnelly M. had highlighted the result of children being interviewed during the research and the importance of their involvement with their healthcare provider’s children, their responses suited the age groups, and the clarifications assisted them to manage their individual conditions. The results revealed that children to be recognized, to be handled with empathy, compassion, and with pleasing manner during their sickness. In this research, the children made important proposals for effective communication. (Kilkelly, U., & Donnelly, M. 2006).

“It is easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men” (Frederik Douglass). One becomes a pediatric nurse because helping children puts a smile on ones face, and making children stronger helps them feel comfortable. It isn’t always easy being a pediatric nurse. They deal with crying children, worrying parents and unsatisfied patients. To become a pediatric nurse one must have an education, skills, and experience.

It aspires to uphold family integrity and encourage normal family functioning when a child is unwell (Nicholas et al., 2014). The principles of family centred care include collaboration, dignity and respect, information sharing – or education – and participation (Dennis et al., 2016). By employing these principles, the health professional can involve the patient’s family in their care, empower them with knowledge and enrich their in-hospital experience (Dennis et al., 2016). Potential language barriers or cultural differences must also be considered as these can affect every aspect of the child’s care and how you approach their individual family-centred care (Katz & Webb, 2016). When parents are adequately educated, they can provide informed reassurance to their children and also be involved in aspects of their child’s care should they wish to (Foster, Whitehead, Maybee, & Cullens,

Pediatric nurses work on health promotion, pain management, and alleviation of psychological distress for the clients and their families. Generally, health promotion and advocacy activities are the dominance of holistic nursing practices. Nurses participate in both patient advocacy and legislative advocacy to encourage healthy patterns. Pediatric nursing in Canada focuses on the health promotion activities such as obesity prevention, vehicle safety, and breastfeeding practices. It is, therefore, instructive to review pediatric nurses’ roles in healthcare, Canadian nurses’ engagement in health promotion activities, and the applications of pediatric nursing towards health promotion.

Endeavoring to become a family health nurse has been a long and rock-strewn journey. Yet, like climbing a mountain with its downfalls and peaks, I have become more astute in managing circumstances and have developed a new understanding of what a family nurse embodies. The purpose of this paper will be to illuminate the experience of becoming a family-oriented nurse and how I utilized my knowledge from Family Health course to achieve this outcome. I will deliberate on an event that summarizes my experience, what I have discovered about myself, applying themes from works of literature, and the development of future goals. I will then conclude with a brief summary of my comic manifesto.

It is imperative that family members be involved as part of the interdisciplinary team for the health and well-being of their loved-one. Research has shown that the family is the primary source of support and care for the patient (Pettoello-Mantovani, Campanozzi, Maiuri & Giardino, 2009). According to O’Malley, Brown, Krug and the Committee of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (2008), having the family as part of the medical team allows the patient to feel more comfortable and at ease despite the challenges of the environment that they may face. Family-Centered Care is the integration and collaboration of the patient, family and the health care team working as a whole (Pediatrics, 2012). There are many important key factors that play a role in the collaboration between the medical professionals and the family system. In order to understand family-centered care we must identify the key principles that create the family-centered care philosophy. When these concepts have been established the next step is to focus on the potential obstacles that may arise in providing this care. In conjunction with the obstacles that may arise we must understand how personal values and beliefs may also impact the provision and implementation of family-centered care.