Assignment Prompt
Discuss how functional health patterns help a nurse understand the current and past state of health for a patient. Using a condition or disease associated with an elimination complexity, provide an example. Include the possible pathophysiological causes of the condition or disease.
Discuss how functional health patterns help a nurse understand the current and past state of health for a patient.
Functional health patterns were developed by Marjory Gordon to conduct a comprehensive nursing assessment of the patient. Examination of the patients' functional health patterns reveals the healthy behaviors that the patients exhibit and the dysfunctional health patterns that impair the health of the patient (Butcher cher & Jones, 2021). Functional health patterns equip the nurses with the perception of the type of disease that affects the patients. A negative perception affects the manner in which the patients respond to questions on the causative factors of a disease. Knowledge of the disease's causative factors informs the strategy of care provision and this enables the body to function effectively. An understanding of functional health patterns enables nurses to restore the health of consumers of care services.
Using a condition or disease associated with an elimination complexity, provide an example. Include the possible pathophysiological causes of the condition or disease.
One of the common elimination complexities is uremia. Uremia occurs when there is a huge accumulation of toxins in the body. This condition occurs due to the failure of the kidneys to filter the toxins in the blood. Symptoms of uremia include fatigue, vomiting, loss of weight, nausea, muscle cramps, and changes in mental status (Zemaitis et al., 2023). The major factors that cause uremia include hypertension, different types of cancers, renal tubular disorders, kidney stones that lead to the blockage of the urinary tract, enlarged prostate, Acute Kidney Injury, Chronic Kidney Disease, autoimmune disorders, and glomerular disease. The condition can be addressed by tailoring the patients' diet, helping patients cope with stress, conducting regular dialysis, improving the quantity and quality of sleep, and encouraging participation in physical activities (Zemaitis et al., 2023).
References
- Butcher, R. D. C. G., & Jones, D. A. (2021). An integrative review of comprehensive nursing assessment tools developed based on Gordon's Eleven Functional Health Patterns. International Journal of Nursing Knowledge, 32, 294-307. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2047-3095.12321
- Zemaitis, M. R., Foris, L. A., Katta, S., & Bashir, K. (2023). Uremia. NCBI. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441859/