Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan

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Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan

The monitoring of family health is performed concerning the family assessment and development of the nursing care plan. The procedure of identifying nursing diagnoses or problems related to the family that should be addressed in the care plan is based on the nursing process that includes such stages as assessment, the provision of diagnosis or identification of a problem, formulation of goals and outcomes for the care plan, implementation of interventions, and evaluation of possible changes in the family and health of its members. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the family nursing care plan designed for the family of African Americans which consists of five members and focus on the conducted assessment, identified problems, proposed interventions, and predicted outcomes of the care.

Assessment of the Family Health

The first stage related to the nursing process is the family health assessment that allows nurses to collect the data related to the clients to determine possible problems that they have as a family. Therefore, the assessment should include the discussion of diseases, psychological problems, socio-cultural issues, and economic factors that can influence the life of the family. The selected family lives in a community where the predominant population is whites.

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The family consists of five members who belong to the African American culture: the 38-year-old mother, the 42-year-old father, and three boys aged 8, 12, and 15 years old. The father is a leader in the family and the main breadwinner. He is a railway worker, and the family’s house is located near the suburban railway station. Currently, the mother has no full-time job. The family can be regarded as lower-middle-income.

This family can also be discussed as a family with teenagers according to its developmental stage. The eldest sons have successfully passed the individual developmental stages, and they can be discussed as coping with problems that are typical of adolescence. Currently, all boys attend the basketball club for teenagers. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan. There are no family members who have specific mental or physical conditions. It is also important to state that there is a predisposition to heart diseases in the family. Children and adults are vaccinated following immunization requirements.

Family members have no chronic diseases, but cases of food poisoning are frequent in this family. There are no recent cases of hospitalization reported by the family. It can be marked that the family members are inattentive to following hygiene rules. Furthermore, diets that are appropriate for children and adolescents are also not followed. The mother also reports problems with sleep which are observed in children and adults in the family.

The communication can be discussed as positive, and the mother spends much time with children. All decisions are usually made by the father, but there is no role conflict. No violence is observed in the family. The mother did not provide the information regarding a crisis in their life, and they have no emergency plan to cope with a crisis. The mother also states that they do not visit a church or follow certain religious traditions strictly. The family’s goals are associated with developing the boys’ potential as sportsmen to enter the college and receive grants. The family does not obtain any support from external sources. Still, they interact with relatives who live in the city. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan.

Family Nursing Diagnoses and Problems

While referring to the assessment of the family’s health, it is possible to determine the following three nursing diagnoses or problems:

  1. The inability to recognize the importance of following rules of hygiene and sanitation to avoid such complications as food poisoning.
  2. The inability to provide adequate nutrition to family members while using the available resources.
  3. The inability to recognize the problem associated with the environmental noise that can cause sleep problems.
Nursing Care Planning

At this stage, it is important to formulate the objectives and outcomes of the planned nursing interventions. To address the determined family problems, it is necessary to focus on the following goal: By the end of three months of nursing interventions, family members will follow hygiene and sanitation rules, their nutrition will be improved, and the quality of sleep will increase. It is also necessary to focus on the associated objectives:

  1. After nursing interventions, the family members will recognize and accept the importance of washing hands before eating and after visiting a toilet, washing vegetables and fruits, as well as thermal processing of food. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan.
  2. The family members will recognize the importance of maintaining personal hygiene.
  3. The family members will be educated by the nurse regarding principles of healthy diets and approaches to making meals nutritious and non-expensive. They will learn how to utilize the received knowledge in practice.
  4. The family members will select a method of reducing environmental noise.
  5. The family members will perform concrete actions to reduce environmental noise.
Implementation of Interventions

The next stage of the nursing process is the implementation of specific interventions to realize the set objectives and address the main goal. Separate interventions should be proposed to address different nursing problems.

Diagnosis/Problem Intervention Resources Rationale
1. The family members’ inability to recognize the importance of following hygiene and sanitation rules to avoid such complications as food poisoning.
  1. Draw the father’s attention to the necessity of resolving the problem of access to clean water for cooking and drinking.
  2. Consult the family on the proper hand washing (Rabbi & Dey, 2013).
  3. Consult on the proper washing of vegetables and fruits.
  4. Explain risks associated with non-following rules of hygiene and non-maintaining personal hygiene.
  5. Educate on actions to take to predict food poisoning and coping with it (Ababio & Lovatt, 2015).
  1. Supplies and tools for hand washing.
  2. Water-purifying filters.
  3. Brochures that describe the role of maintaining hygiene and coping with infections and bacteria.
 The mother can be discussed as paying little attention to the thermal processing of food. Clean water for drinking is not provided. Boys often ignore hand washing before eating and when they return from their courses. Boys can eat unwashed fruits and vegetables.
2. The family members’ inability to guarantee adequate nutrition using the available resources.
  1. Explain the principles of healthy diets (Montagnese, Santarpia, Buonifacio, Nardelli, & Caldara, 2015).
  2. Draw the mother’s attention to the nutritional value of different products.
  3. Discuss the necessity of analyzing what part of the family budget can be spent on purchasing products.
  4. Emphasize the importance of adding more vegetables, fruits, and cereals to the daily menu of the family (Freeland-Graves & Nitzke, 2013).
  5. Assist in controlling changes in the body mass index (BMI).
  6. Assist in developing non-expensive recipes that are related to the principles of a healthy diet.
  7. Emphasize the necessity of analyzing what propositions are available to the family in the community (e.g. anti-obesity programs).
  1. Dietary plans.
  2. Tables and diagrams that demonstrate the nutritional value of products.
  3. Recipes.
 Two sons are adolescents who spend a lot of energy while playing basketball. The 8-year-old boy also requires adequate nutrition to grow and develop appropriately. Currently, children eat a lot of food with high levels of fat and sugar. The proportion of vegetables, fruits, and cereals in their menu is minimal. Such a diet requires improvements to address the developmental needs of children (Freeland-Graves & Nitzke, 2013). Products with low nutritional value are also the main part of the adults’ menu in the family, and the risk of developing obesity is high.
3. The family members’ inability to recognize the problem of the environmental noise that causes sleep problems.
  1. Discuss the necessity of consulting specialists and identifying ways to reduce environmental noise.
  2. Focus on the importance of choosing the time- and cost-efficient approach to guaranteeing the soundproofing in the house.
  3. nalyze alternative approaches to overcoming the problem with sleep in children and adults in the family (Hume, Brink, & Basner, 2012).
  4. Assist in developing plans for getting ready for bed for all family members. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan.
  1. Resources and materials to be used for soundproofing.
  2. Brochures to describe the procedure of getting ready for bed.
  3. Brochures that discuss the impact of the environmental noise on people’s daily activities, sleep, and the level of stress.
 In this family, adults and children report problems with sleep because the house has minimal soundproofing, and the family suffers from constant environmental noise. Loud sounds prevent the family members from falling asleep, and they also cause awakenings at night.
Evaluation of Outcomes

When the planned interventions are implemented, it is necessary to complete the evaluation of the provided care with the focus on the previously set goals and objectives. In the case of this family, the evaluation should be conducted three months after the first intervention was started.

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The nurse should concentrate on assessing what positive changes are observed concerning the performed work. Much attention should be paid to analyzing how the proposed interventions changed the daily life of the discussed family in terms of following the hygiene norms, using a new healthy diet, and overcoming the sleep disorders that were caused by the high level of the environmental noise.Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan. To monitor the family’s progress, the nurse should perform regular home visits and provide the required support and consultation.

Conclusion

The conducted family health assessment indicates the problems in a certain family which require the solution with the focus on the nurse’s assistance. The developed nursing plan addresses the main diagnoses and proposes the interventions according to the set objectives to expect positive outcomes.

It is also important to pay attention to the fact that the whole assessment procedure is based on the principles of the nursing process. As a result, the summary of the assessment is provided, family problems are identified, and objectives for the nursing care plan are formulated. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan. Interventions are based on evidence and research in nursing. The evaluation procedure is discussed in detail.

References

Ababio, P. F., & Lovatt, P. (2015). A review on food safety and food hygiene studies in Ghana. Food Control, 47(1), 92-97.

Freeland-Graves, J. H., & Nitzke, S. (2013). Position of the academy of nutrition and dietetics: Total diet approach to healthy eating. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(2), 307-317.

Hume, K. I., Brink, M., & Basner, M. (2012). Effects of environmental noise on sleep. Noise and Health, 14(61), 297-315.

Montagnese, C., Santarpia, L., Buonifacio, M., Nardelli, A., & Caldara, A. R. (2015). European food-based dietary guidelines: A comparison and update. Nutrition, 31(7), 908-915.

Rabbi, S. E., & Dey, N. C. (2013). Exploring the gap between hand washing knowledge and practices in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional comparative study. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 1-14. Monitoring Family Health and Developing a Care Plan.