Nursing Process Applied to a Family: Assessment, Planning, Implementing and Evaluating

Running head: NURSING PROCESS APPLIED TO A FAMILY
Nursing Process Applied to a Family
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1NURSING PROCESS APPLIED TO A FAMILY
Part 1 - Nursing Care of the Family: Assessment
The chosen Family scenario is of the Wilson family.
Fig 1. Genogram of the Wilson family
The term family assessment describes the procedures that a nursing professional
undertakes to assist and help with taking care of the children whose parents are unable to
watch over them, due to their separation or prior work engagement, or even diseased
individuals requiring constant care (Avellar & Supplee, 2013). This assessment includes the
identification of any risk factors involved in the case. As the child and family health care
nurse, I have come across Wilson’s family at the home visit. I got to know that Sharon and
Hannah Wilson have been married for ten months since the successful Marriage Equality
plebiscite in 2017 and are living in Brisbane. They have three kids: Matilda, Gus and Harvey.

2NURSING PROCESS APPLIED TO A FAMILY
Matilda is the daughter from Sharon’s first marriage. Gus and Harvey are the new-born twin
babies who were carried by Hannah Wilson through IVF proceedings. Matilda who is 3 years
old now, attends a local kindergarten. Hannah is a primary school teacher, who is currently
on maternal leave. Sharon owns an engineering company and is currently required to travel
back and forth to Mt Isa for 10days, for 2-3times each month. The mother of the newly born
twins, Hannah Wilson has had a vaginal delivery and to ease the process she had to go
through a small episiotomy. But her episiotomy has since been infected, which is causing her
serious discomfort. She is taking warm salt baths and is on a course of antibiotics. Since
Hannah just gave birth to the twins and is currently suffering from multiple issues including
infection from the episiotomy, difficulty in breastfeeding and emotional struggles, her partner
Sharon is highly concerned about leaving her with the children and going to Mt Isa. None of
their parents are available for help either. Sharon’s parents live in New Zealand and
occasionally come for a visit. But Hannah’s parents do not stay in touch with them since they
cannot accept Sharon and Hannah’s relationship. Hannah’s grandparents are completely
supportive of them, and they even visited Hannah in the hospital every day. But since they
are elderly, they cannot help Hannah with the kids when Sharon is away.
The strengths of the Wilson family one must come across are their supportive
behaviour and affection towards each other. Both Sharon and Hannah are extremely
supportive towards each other. When Hannah was having trouble to breastfeed the twins,
Sharon came to help her by feeding the babies expressed milk. Also during this whole time,
both of them have been taking care of Matilda, who in fact has been quite joyful about her
new brothers and been very excited and unusually active the whole day. Sharon’s concern
about leaving Hannah with the kids when she is suffering from health and emotional issues
depicts how much Sharon cares for her partner Hannah. Even for an outsider, it is quite

3NURSING PROCESS APPLIED TO A FAMILY
evident to notice the way they always support and love each other and be there for each other
in every phase of life (Kemp et al, 2013).
Part 2 - Nursing Care of the Family: Planning, Implementing and
Evaluating
In the assessment of the Wilson family, two major challenges are identified, which are
breastfeeding and transition to parenting.
Challenge 1: Breastfeeding
Description:
Often it has found that new mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies. There are
many possible factors associated with this issue. Most common ones include breast
enlargement, milk duct blockage or even flat nipples. The mother of the new-born twins,
Hannah has also been experiencing nipple trauma. She was having difficulties with
breastfeeding in the first few days. But the twins did not seem to have any trouble being fed.
Both the babies breastfeed quite well and also take bottled breast milk easily. However, it has
been found that breastfeeding can be a lot of challenge initially for new mothers as well as
their babies. They both take some time to get adjusted to the whole process (Psaila et al,
2014). It is widely acknowledged that breast milk contains a lot of nutrient-rich properties
that enable the child to be stronger and healthier. The colostrum, present in the first secreted
breast milk after the delivery, provides immunity to the child which protects the baby from
several infections. So it is quite important for the mother to make sure that she gets the act
properly to ensure proper nutrition for the child. She must follow the doctor’s or the nurse’s
suggestions in this matter to develop a healthy and efficient breastfeeding cycle (Östlund &
Persson, 2014).