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Maria has just finished her six-month orientation at a local public health department in the Maternal Child Health division. She received her nursing license just seven months ago after spending a decade in business management as a supervisor of a large customer service and sales department. She is concerned about how she can possibly assess all aspects of health in high-risk populations. One weekend, Maria receives a referral from the local hospital involving a child who needs to be seen by a public health nurse (PHN). She is excited and nervous about this initial case. The only information she receives is that the family has a 2-year-old boy who is being released from the hospital after suffering an asthma attack. To manage his new asthma diagnosis, the boy and his family need education and a home assessment.
Maria calls the boy's mother to set a time for the visit. While driving to their home, Maria mentally reviews everything she knows about asthma. She anticipates that providing education will be easy because she herself has a son with asthma and she is familiar with the disease process and management. Upon arriving at the home, she becomes slightly uneasy about the multiple dogs and cats roaming the yard. She knocks several times on the door before a man answers and lets her inside the home. Maria enters the kitchen and everyone exchanges introductions. Marcus, the boy with asthma, is quiet in his mother's arms. His brothers, 1 and 5 years old, are running around the kitchen table, trying to open Maria's nursing bag, jumping on her, and attempting to take her pen. The scene is chaotic. Maria has to overcome her anxiety as she realizes that completing a nursing assessment will be a challenge.
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MARIA'S NOTEBOOK Competency #9 Incorporates Mental, Physical, Emotional, Social, Spiritual, and Environmental Aspects of Health Into Assessment, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation
Assesses mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health
Develops and implements holistic public health interventions that meet the needs of individuals, families, communities, and systems
Evaluates the impact of public health nursing interventions on the mental, physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental health of individuals, families, communities, and systems
Source: Henry Street Consortium, 2022
USEFUL DEFINITIONS Assessment: A deliberative, systematic process of collecting data to reach a conclusion that leads to an action plan. Assessment is the first step of the nursing process.
Community Assessment: The process of systematically collecting information about a community's structure, processes, and dynamics; its physical and social environment; its populations; and its level of health and wellness to determine its strengths, resources, populations at risk, health needs, and health priorities.
Holistic Public Health Nursing Assessment: The process of collecting data about the client's health status—including the biological and behavioral factors, the lived experience of the client, and all the factors in the physical and social environment that affect health—with the intention to improve the lived experience of the client.
Strengths-Based Assessment:...