Family Health Assessment

Family health assessment

Gordon's Functional 11 Health Pattern

Gordon's Functional 11 Health Pattern assessment framework is particularly useful, however in collecting health data to formulate nursing diagnoses. Gordon has defined 11 functional health patterns that provide for a holistic client database. These 11 functional health patterns can he used for nursing assessment in any practice areas for clients of all ages and in the assessment of families and communities. For the purpose of this handbook, assessment is focused on the individual. The family health assessment is an important tool to identify the family problems; development of care and provision of care fulfilling their needs (Daniels, 2004).

Family

The family I selected was a small family. It comprises of the parents and the child who had asthma. They were Mr. and Mrs. Jones with their child George. George is only two and a half years old, who recently had an asthma attack and was rushed to the hospital. The assessment focused on the child and his health pattern. The assessment comprised of two sided stories. One was the assessment before the hospitalization of the child and the other was after the hospitalization of the child. Both the assessments have been discussed in the following section. The family answered the questions related to all 11 Gordon's functional health pattern.

Summarize the findings for functional health patterns

Health perception

This head encompasses the perceived health pattern by the patient. This section also includes the patient's well-being and how the patient's health is managed. Before the hospitalization, the parents believed that the health of George was stable and fit. Mrs. Jones especially has a strong belief on herbal medicines. George has a special interest in playing with toys. After hospitalization, the views of Mr. and Mrs. Jones have been changed. They view George as a completely ill person. This is because George has become lazy and is unable to do all the activities now. Even if he does a few, it is with very low energy. He loves playing with toys but unable to do with full energy and enthusiasm as before. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are working to make George healthy again by relying on his present condition with the help of therapeutic personnel. They are also following the prescribed medications by the hospital and doctors.

Nutritional and Metabolic Pattern

This section describes the food and fluid consumption relative to the meta-block need and local nutrient supply is indicated (Carpenito-Moyet, 2008). Before hospitalization, George is said to have a good appetite. He used to drink milk on a regular basis. After asthma attack, the appetite of George is decreased. He has lost it because of too many medications.

Elimination Pattern

This pattern explains the excretory function which includes skin, bladder and bowel. Before the asthma attack, George has no records of problems regarding his bowel movements. He has the habit of defecating two to three times daily. His urination is frequent with light yellowish color. There are no reports or complaints related to bowel and urinary ...