Nursing Case and Care Plan
William Smith is a 68-year-old man who was transferred to the Palliative Care ward from a surgical ward three days ago. The patient was admitted on January 26, 2013 for removal of a sacral abscess that had been a source of a lot of pain to him. Following his surgery, his future management was evaluated and it was decided that he would be transferred to the Palliative Care ward since he could not be discharged home. The palliative assessment of Smith would require the development of a suitable nursing care plan that would help deal with the condition. The nursing plan requires an understanding of the patient's social history, medical history, physical assessment upon admission, and palliative care unit admission assessment.
Nursing Case
Could Mr. Smith's culture influence his pain assessment? Why? What strategies could you employ to ensure that you are adequately addressing Mr. Smith's pain?
Mr. Smith is an indigenous Australian i.e. An individual of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. As an indigenous Australian, Mr. Smith culture has influenced his pain assessment given the role of culture in healthcare. Actually, it is evident that there is a variation between non-indigenous and indigenous Australians in terms of interpretation of death and dying as well as other aspects of health and well-being (Queensland Health, 2011). Mr. Smith's culture influences his pain assessment because of the variance in customary practices between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians. In essence, health and well-being is interpreted differently among this people, especially hospital admission, which is viewed as a place an individual goes to die.
Therefore, it is important to develop and implement appropriate strategies to ensure that Mr. Smith's pain is adequately addressed. This process entails consideration of the impact of geographical and cultural aspects on individuals and communities and barriers in order to obtain a detailed view of the health and well-being of indigenous Australians. One of the strategies to ensure that Mr. Smith's pain is adequately addressed is to deal with personal and/or spiritual issues. This is primarily because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people tend to consider factors that are associated with ill health such as pain and discomfort as personal or spiritual issues (Commonwealth of Australian, 2005). This implies that dealing with pain would require dealing with personal or spiritual issues as well as cultural transgression since it influences Mr. Smith's perception of pain. Secondly, I would ensure Mr. Smith discusses certain issues with a health worker or social worker to promote understanding of the current situation and illness. Third, measures will be established to address Mr. Smith's current family situation as part of enhancing his social and emotional well-being and deal with the pain.
2. Consider Mr. Smith's social and medical history.
a. Reflect on any judgements and prejudices that you may have when caring for Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith's social and medical history may generate some prejudices and judgments when caring for him and addressing his condition. One of the judgment is that is a violent and stubborn individual since he has a past history of domestic violence and abuse. Secondly, he does not want consider hospital admission as a place for healing and well-being but for death since many indigenous people view health facilities as places of death. Third, it is difficult to deal with him since he refuses any home help despite being unable to care for himself. Fourth, his condition could have partly been brought by his history of alcohol abuse and heavy smoking.
b. Review the following professional Australian nursing standards: Code of Ethics for Nurses, Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses, EN Competency Standards. Outline the standards / codes that relate to non-judgemental nursing care in this situation.
There are various standards or codes in the Australian health sector that relate to non-judgemental nursing care in Mr. Smith's situation. The relevant codes in this situation include value statement 1 to value statement 7 in the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia. Secondly, Conduct Statement 1to Conduct Statement 10 in the Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia are standards that relate to non-judgemental nursing care in Mr. Smith's condition. The other standards that relate to this situation are competence units in EN competency standards that govern nursing practice.
3. Compile a list of questions you would ask Mr. Smith as part of a holistic health assessment. These questions should be framed to enable collection of information on:
A. Physical health status including pain assessment
i. How would you rate your daily energy levels?
ii. Do you experience any headaches, joint aches, and muscle pain?
iii. How would you describe your ability to exercise?
iv. How would you rate your overall physical health?
Theoretical Foundations of Nursing: Nursing can be described as a science and practice that enlarges adaptive capabilities and improves the transformation of an individual and the environment. This profession focuses on promoting health, improving the quality of life, and facilitating dying with dignity. The nursing profession has certain theoretical foundations that govern the nurses in promoting adaptation for individuals and groups. These theoretical foundations include theories, theory integration, reflection, research and
Nursing Assessment Taking the history of a patient is a crucial aspect of patient assessment and treatment. A good history can mean the difference between a successful patient outcome and unsatisfactory outcomes. However, taking a complete and useful history is a skill that is developed by means of training and practice; it is not some talent that is innate (Bickley & Szilagyi, 2007; McKenna et al., 2011). According to Craig (2007)
The strengths of this design are related to the ease of application and usage. The design of the survey was easy to administer and self explanatory. While the weakness was related to the willingness of the participant to Chapter Three 5 participate complete the survey and provide truthful responses. An additional weakness is relative to the age group that was present for the survey and their relationship to the use of
Culture in Advanced Nursing Practice Abstract Culturally competent nurses can assess the psychological, spiritual, physiological, social, environmental, and epidemiological data on a particular cultural group to provide culturally sensitive and patient-centered care. Since Madeleine Leininger first proposed that cultural competency was essential to nursing, various means of incorporating cultural learning and assessment have been incorporated into advanced nursing practice. Culture includes but is not limited to ethnic, linguistic, religious, and national heritage,
Nursing Practice The nursing field comprises different theories that are used to govern nursing practice through offering different perspectives and views of phenomena. A theory can be defined as the development of a link between concepts that create a certain view of a phenomenon (Jackson, n.d.). The theories in the nursing field focus on issues that are relevant to enhancing patient care, overall nursing practice, and nursing education. Moreover, these
Benner's Novice To Expert Theory and Application to Modern Nursing Nurse competence is an important concept in today's nursing practice since it is directly linked to patient outcomes. The link between this concept and patient outcomes is also attributed to how nurse competence is related to integrating nursing knowledge into practice. This paper provides a concept analysis of the concept of nurse competence in relation to Benner's Novice to Expert Theory.
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now