Gordon's 11 functional health patterns

Gordon's 11 functional health patterns

Introduction

Gordon's functional health pattern is a method that was introduced by Marjorie Gordon in 1987 for nurses. This method provides nurses with essential guidelines and more evaluated nursing assessment for the patients. This pattern consists of 11 functional health patterns. These 11 functional health patterns help the nurses to collect data from patient in more systematic and standardized way for determining different aspects of patient's health (Kriegler & Harton, 1992). This data can be used by the nurses both subjective and objective to build patterns related to a different lifestyle of the patient (Edelman, et.al, 2010). By using this technique nurses can more effectively workout for the well being of the patients. I have made the assessment on Mr. John's family using the Gordon's 11 function health pattern. I assessed the family by asking a different question from each category of health pattern. The findings are briefly discussed under each category in this paper.

Assessment

Health perception/ Health management

Health perception and values focus on a person's belief and values for their health (Edelman, 2010). The health perception of John's family revolves around the regular biannual checkups, using different vaccines for immunization of their children and taking all measures for healthy eating. Healthful eating is the main focus of this family as the wife of Mr. John is diabetic. Mrs. John developed diabetics when she was pregnant for his second son. Mrs. John takes medicines prescribed by her physician. Both husband and wife use to take different educational classes that take place within the community which teaches about the healthful living with diabetes. Family members avoid smoking although Mrs. John had a history of smoking ten years back. Both husband and wife are occasional drinkers with almost 3-4 drinks per month. The family is Christian and has strong religious belief.

Nutrition

Nutrition assessment deals with the consumption of food and other fluids according to the requirements of the body (Jones, 2006). Nutrition assessment of John's family shows balanced nutritional requirement. This family takes meal thrice a day with some snacks additional. Family uses large quantity of fruits and vegetables. They prefer to take fast food once in a week. The fluids utilized by the family are water, and teas however, they try to avoid fizzy drinks and carbonated drinks. The lifestyle of the family changed totally after Mrs. John had diabetes. By taking different sessions the family has now learned a lot over consumption of healthy and balanced diet after the diagnosis of diabetes.

Elimination

Elimination assessment focuses over the investigation of the excretory system of the body (Jones, 2006). The problem that may arise in the elimination issues includes constipation and issues of urology. Mr. John's family does not face any excretory issues. When assessed it seemed that no one in the family had any issue of urination and bowel movements.

Sleep and Rest

The assessment related to sleep and rest deals with the practices and time deployed for proper rest. This is one of the most important parts ...