NRS 429 V Week 1 Discussion 1

Using the health belief model, how can nurses encourage patients to make immediate and permanent behavior changes; particularly as they relate to lifestyle choices?

Family Health Assessment is crucial in identifying the family’s strength and weakness in terms of access to quality and affordable care. The assessment also provides crucial information to the healthcare practitioners on the threats to achieving comprehensive health and general wellness for the whole population. Furthermore, the family assessment prepares nurses especially the Family Nurse Practitioners with the relevant skills required in the assessment of the family health patterns and be able to offer family-based solutions (Peterson-Burch, 2018). The concept has also proved to be instrumental in advancement of genetic interventions in some of the complex conditions.

Re: Topic 1 DQ 1

The nurse serves an important role in educating patients and families. It is important that the education caters to the learning styles of those being taught. Sonya Blevins (2020) describes four different learning style preferences: aural, read/write, kinesthetic, and visual. When care is taken to assess a learner’s style better educational outcomes/retention occurs. The nurse often reinforces education given by providers and assesses a patient’s understanding of the information provided. Nurse’s develop an educational care plan that addresses a patient’s individual needs using the nursing process of Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation . As health educators, nurses apply evidence-based practice to ensure the best possible outcomes.
When it comes to educating patients and families, other considerations besides learning styles have to be made. A person’s level of education must be considered, it is suggested that education be geared towards 6th grade competency in reading and writing. In addition, making sure that the information is in the learners preferred language is important as well. An assessment of a patient’s ability to hear, see, and speak also needs to be considered (Blevins, 2020).
Acknowledging a patient’s readiness to learn is also a special consideration. Many patients have physical, emotional, and or cognitive barriers that impede learning. When this occurs, involving the support people in the educational process is helpful. In addition, assessing the understanding and retention of the information is also a consideration.
Behavior objectives in care plans or health promotion are necessary when those actions are causing harm to the patient’s well-being. Whether the patient is compliant or not, the behavioral objectives provide a framework for expectations and goals for the patient, support persons and health care team. Patients often need the assistance of professionals such as nurses to help set goals that facilitate behavior change. It has been found that characteristic of goals influence the commitment to achieve the goal. For example, an “easy” goal has been found to encourage poor effort and performance (Bailey, 2017). A nurse can help the patient navigate through the complicated processes of goal setting.
Bailey, R. (2017). Goal setting and action planning for health behavior change. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 13(6), 615-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827617729634
Blevins, S. (2020). Medication education: preparing the patient for discharge. MedSurg Nursing, 29(3), 213-214.

RESPOND TO MARIA
RONALD
Re: Topic 1 DQ 1

According to the ebook Health Promotion: Health & Wellness Across the Continuum, it is the nurse’s role and responsibility to educate patients based on evidence-based research to have an effective positive learning outcome. Educating the patients should include the patient and the family involved in the care. Nurses should utilize the patient’s learning style because the patient will more likely understand the teaching based on the given information.
When developing a care plan or education program to promote health, the nurse should consider if there are any barriers that will hinder the learning curve when providing health education. To better improve patient teaching outcomes, nurses should include the patient and family and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team to create a plan of care so the patient and family will be willingly to follow through with the plan of care.
Creating behavioral objectives should be utilized when the nurse have noticed the patient is willingly ready for a change to promote health and wellness. The six stages of behavioral objectives are precontemplation, contemplation, planning, action, maintenance, and termination.
Resources
Grand Canyon University (Ed). (2018). Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/

RESPOND

It is a professional and ethical responsibility for nurses to provide patients with evidence-based education and health counseling (Richard, Evans, & Williams, 2017). Some things to consider when teaching a patient are language barriers, socioeconomic status, access to medications or medical equipment, education level, and transportation availability.

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When considering a care plan for the patient, it is important to recognize the ability and willingness of the patient to learn. Involving family and/or caregivers are also used to assist in the success of the patients’ outcome. Asking the patient what their biggest concerns or learning needs are will help in developing a care plan. What the patient sees as an obstacle or concern may not be what the nurse intends it to be. Open ended questioning is a good way for the nurse to determine if the patient understands what is being taught and engaging in the education process.
Behavioral objectives should be continuously assessed in the health promotion of the patient. For example, a patient with dementia may be unable to remember when to take medications and will need assistance. Depending on the severity, they may need someone to give them the medication or possibly set up a pill dispenser for them to utilize. Involving the patient in the care plan process can help to improve health quality and reach goals in managing disease processes or illnesses. There are times when the patient is unwilling to learn or change unhealthy lifestyles. There are several health promotion models. The participatory health model incorporates shared decision making into patient-centered medicine in the idea that it results in improved health care. By incorporating respect and open communication, individual family members and health care providers can work together using this model to form an effective team (Levy et al., 2016). Regardless of what model used, scope of practice and the use of evidence-based practice should be considered when developing care plans and health promotion.
References
Levy, S. E., Frasso, R., Colantonio, S., Reed, H., Stein, G., Barg, F. K., & Fiks, A.G. (2016).Shared decision making and treatment decisions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. Academic Pediatrics, 16 (6), 571-577.
Richard, E., Evans, T., & Williams, B. (2017). Nursing students’ perceptions of preparation to engage in patient education. Nurse Education in Practice, 28, 1-6.

The Nurse is the primary educator in the clinical setting. Nurses must have a broad clinical knowledge base related to a patient’s clinical diagnosis and prognosis. They must also be able to “translate” what the physician is saying to the patient, in order to help the patient to understand fully. The nurse also needs to be able to anticipate needs and questions, in addition to being prepared to research or answer new questions that have not yet been encountered.

One important strategy for the nurse to implement is to have a good understanding of how to access evidence-based data. Providing patients with current and updated information is important when they receive a new diagnosis. It is also important to be able to provide explanations and guidance for self-care at home. (Winters and Echeverri, 2012.)

Using compassion and empathy is also a strategy that can assist the nurse in educating patients. Good questions to ask may include the following: “How would I feel if I was going through this at this moment?” or “How can I be the person they need most right now?” It is important to consider the patient’s experience and the emotions they may be experiencing, including their barriers to good self-care and compliance.

A Nurse Educator could consider the patient’s educational level, willingness and motivation to learn, and health literacy when designing individual care plans, or programs which promote health education. It is important to know your audience or specific demographic, before designing a particular plan. It is a priority to place emphasis on the most important aspects of the plan and not overwhelm the patients with too much information. The Nurse should remain focused and goal-directed.

Behavioral objectives should be utilized when patients are in need of behavioral modification or safety planning. For example, in the Emergency Department, patients receive specific education on the exact steps they need to complete in order to stay safe at home. They are given resources and contact information in order to access help in a crisis. They verbally contract for safety and participate in follow-up counseling and other programs. They also receive education on medication management.

The Nurse is responsible for designing a specific plan and educating the patient on coping skills and strategies to prevent a crisis.

Reference:

‘Teaching Strategies to Support Evidence-Based Practice,” by Winters and Echeverri, from Critical Care Nurse (2012).