Health Assessment in Reference to Nursing

The knowledge of health assessment is relevant in the provision of quality care and the prevention of diseases. A health assessment is defined as the plan that is created to provide care to the patients by first, identifying the specific needs of the patients and clarifying how the nursing facility will address those needs.

Running head: HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 1
Health Assessment in Reference to Nursing
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 2
Health Assessment in Reference to Nursing
Introduction
The knowledge of health assessment is relevant in the provision of quality care and
the prevention of diseases. A health assessment is defined as the plan that is created to
provide care to the patients by first, identifying the specific needs of the patients and
clarifying how the nursing facility will address those needs. Since the registered nurses are
responsible for providing quality care and treating diseases, the nurses need to have
knowledge of health assessment for them to be able to identify the needs of the patients. This
means for quality delivery of healthcare, health assessment plays a significant role.
The Body
Section A
By definition, health refers to that state of complete physical, emotional and spiritual
well-being (Abramson et al., 2014). On the other hand, assessment is the process of
evaluating the quality of a given aspect (Berman, Snyder & Frandsen, 2016). Health
assessment in respect to nursing refers to the process where the psychological, spiritual, and
physiological information about a particular patient is gathered by a Registered nurse to
provide quality care that responds to the patient’s needs (Bradshaw & Hultquist, 2016).
Holistic nursing care refers to the process of ensuring the physical, mental and spiritual well-
being of the patient (Birks et al., 2013). Therefore, health assessment plays a critical role in
the delivery of holistic nursing care because it enables the collection of relevant information
about the health needs of people to provide patient-centered care (Stuart, 2014). The data on
the needs of the patients that has been collected through the process of health assessment will
then be subjected to a thorough critical thinking process before a clinical judgment is made.
It’s the clinical judgment made that will be of great significance to the patient because it will

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 3
respond to the needs of patients both at the moment and in the future (Bradshaw & Hultquist,
2016). A good example of how nurses can provide holistic care is by fostering a relationship
with their patients. This can be done by talking to patients in a friendly manner and giving
them hope that the condition they are in is manageable (Bradshaw & Hultquist, 2016).
Fostering relationship as described above will give the patient comfort and the sense of
belonging that is necessary for promoting the healing and the wellness of the patient. Also,
giving the patient total attention is another way nurses can foster a relationship with the
patients.
Section B
As described above, health assessment from the nursing perspective involves the
collection of relevant medical information mostly regarding the physical, mental and spiritual
state of the patients (Estes, 2013). Through health assessment in nursing, it’s possible to
identify the likely health problems that the patient is suffering from. This is so because the
data collected from the patients is both subjective and objective (Jensen, 2018). When the
data collected is subjected to a thorough diagnosis, the results will reveal the likely health
problem that the patient is suffering from. On the other hand, the nursing process is a five-
step process that aims to ensure patient-centered care (Douglas et al., 2016). Therefore, health
assessment in reference to the nursing process will serve to facilitate patient-centered care by
first identifying the needs of the patients and how those needs will be addressed by a skilled
nurse. The patient’s needs will be addressed after the nurses have applied critical thinking
skills to evaluate those needs. This will guarantee patient-centered care as required by the
nursing process because the nurses will be able to provide effective care that responds to the
patient’s needs. However, in the process of carrying out health assessment to collect relevant
data and carrying out the diagnosis based on the data collected to identify the health problem
that the patient is likely to suffer and how to address the same, the nurses must avoid any

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 4
chances of errors. This is so because nursing is a very sensitive field and the process of health
assessment is the most critical in the nursing process since it determines the present and
future needs of the patients. Therefore, any error committed in the process of health
assessment can affect both the present and future needs of the patients. Hence for a health
assessment to serve its purpose as discussed above, considerations must be taken to avoid
chances of errors. This is possible with the help of assessment tools and techniques. For
example, the use of palpation, inspection and percussion techniques when performing a
physical exam (Forbes & Watt, 2015).
Section C
The two scenarios chosen are those of Mrs. E and Ms. D.
Regarding Mrs. E, the analysis of the case study reveals that the patient was
diagnosed with blood pressure recently. The nurse can tailor a health assessment to Mrs. E by
first taking the patient’s history. This will involve income status, education level, marital
status, and information about the patient and the family past medical conditions. After taking
the patient’s history, the nurse will then carry out a physical examination which will involve
checking the blood pressure of the patient. If the nurse finds that the blood pressure of the
patient is still high, the nurse can help the patient manage the condition by recommending
regular exercise. This is so because, for people with high blood pressure, the exercise of at
least 150 minutes a week can lower the blood pressure by 5 mmHg (Jørgensen & Costanza,
2016).
One of the aspects that impacts the interaction of the patient with the nurse is privacy
because the patient is visiting the general practice area with many people. Also, the marital
status of the patient is another aspect. Since the patient is a single mother, the patient might
be willing to open up to the nurse with the hope of getting help from the nurse. The signs and
symptoms of high blood pressure is another aspect that will force the patient to open up to the

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 5
nurse. The fourth aspect is the reception of the patient by the nurse since a poor reception
might scare the patient to open up.
Based on the scenario of Ms. D, it’s evident that the patient needs emergency care.
This is so because the patient has had a slow speed motor vehicle accident which in most
cases results to injuries to the head, neck, and shoulders (Giger, 2016). The nurse can tailor a
health assessment to this patient by assessing the injury of the patient in the triage section.
After the level of the injury is ascertained, the nurse will then direct the patient to either
critical care unit (CCU) if the patient’s conditions require urgent attention. If the condition of
this patient is less urgent, the patient will be directed to the intensive care unit (ICU) but if
the condition is not urgent, then the patient will be directed to ambulatory care unit (ACU).
Based on this case study (Mrs. E), one of the aspects of health assessment that can
impact the interaction of the patient with the nurse is the unconsciousness which is a
developmental feature when accidents occur. Also, the availability of time for the nurse to
interact with the patient in the emergency department is limited. The security issue is another
health assessment aspect since the cause of the accident is not known yet. In addition, the
patient might have been frightened by the intensity of injury as a result of an accident such
that the patient is so terrified to talk to the nurse.
Conclusion
Health assessment plays a crucial role in healthcare because it enables the collection
of relevant information about the health needs of patients that the registered nurses will use to
provide quality care. The nurses provide quality care using the information collected through
the process of health assessment after subjecting the health information to a critical thinking
process and make a clinical judgment. Also, a health assessment is essential for the nursing
process because the data collected in the health assessment process will be significant in the

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 6
provision of patient-centered care. Therefore, registered nurses need to have knowledge of
health assessment for them to be able to provide patient-centered care.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 7
Reference
Abramson, E. L., McGinnis, S., Moore, J., Kaushal, R., & HITEC investigators. (2014). A
statewide assessment of electronic health record adoption and health information
exchange among nursing homes. Health services research, 49(1pt2), 361-372.
Berman, A., Snyder, S., & Frandsen, G. (2016). Kozier & Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing:
Concepts, process and practice. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Bradshaw, M., & Hultquist, B. L. (2016). Innovative teaching strategies in nursing and
related health professions. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Birks, M., Cant, R., James, A., Chung, C., & Davis, J. (2013). The use of physical assessment
skills by registered nurses in Australia: Issues for nursing education. Collegian, 20(1),
27-33.
Douglas, C., Booker, C., Fox, R., Windsor, C., Osborne, S., & Gardner, G. (2016). Nursing
physical assessment for patient safety in general wards: reaching consensus on core
skills. Journal of clinical nursing, 25(13-14), 1890-1900.
Estes, M. E. Z. (2013). Health assessment and physical examination. Cengage Learning.
Forbes, H., & Watt, E. (2015). Jarvis's physical examination and health assessment. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Giger, J. N. (2016). Transcultural Nursing-E-Book: Assessment and Intervention. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Jørgensen, S. E., Xu, L., & Costanza, R. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of ecological indicators
for assessment of ecosystem health. CRC press.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN REFERENCE TO NURSING 8
Jensen, S. (2018). Nursing health assessment: A best practice approach. Lippincott Williams
& Wilkins.
Stuart, G. W. (2014). Principles and practice of psychiatric nursing-e-book. Elsevier Health
Sciences.