HA INTRO

• Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
• An individual is viewed as a total person interacting with others and functions within his/her physical, psychological, and social fields.
• Health is defined as a process and a state of being and becoming whole and integrated in a way that reflects the persona and environment mutuality, according to Roy and Andrews (1999).
• The state of well-being and the use of every power the person possesses to the full extent is described by Nightingale (1860).
• The ecologic model developed by Leavell and Clark (1965) examines the interaction of agent, host, and environment.
• The clinical model defines health as the absence of disease or injury.
• The eudaimonistic model views health as the actualization of a person’s potential; health is viewed as exuberant well-being.
• The health promotion model defines health as the actualization of inherent and acquired human potential.
• Health Assessment is the plan of care that identifies the specific needs of a patient and how those needs can be addressed by a healthcare system or nursing facility.
• A systematic method of collecting data about a patient for the purpose of determining his/her current and ongoing health status, predicting risks of health and identifying health-promoting activities is included in health assessment.
• Health Assessment includes interview, physical assessment, documentation, and interpretation of findings.
• The scope of focus in health assessment is more than the problems presented by the patient.
• The Interview in nursing gathers subjective data.
• Focused or Problem-Oriented Assessment in nursing consists of a thorough assessment of a particular patient’s problem.
• Emergency Assessment in nursing is a rapid assessment performed in life-threatening situations, immediate diagnosis is needed, and focuses on few essential health patterns and are not comprehensive.
• Assessment in nursing is performed by conducting interview and physical examination.
• Ongoing or Partial Assessment in nursing is a collection of data after a comprehensive database is established, and is a mini-overview of the patient’s body systems and holistic health as a follow-up on health status.
• Parts of Health Assessment in nursing include collection of subjective (covert) data, which are the verbal statements provided by the patient, and collection of objective (overt) data, which are directly observed by the examiner or can be measured or tested against an accepted standard.
• Nurses need a variety of sources to gather data, knowledge of the natural and social sciences, effective communication techniques, and use of critical thinking skills for conducting health assessment.
• Initial Comprehensive Assessment in nursing is an admission assessment, collection of subjective and objective data, and includes gathering of detailed history, physical examination, and examination of patient’s overall health status.
• Validation of Data in nursing serves to ensure that the assessment process is not ended before all relevant data have been collected, helps to prevent documentation of inaccurate data, and is done through documentation of data, which forms the database for the entire nursing process and provides data for all other members of the health care team.
• The Nursing Process is a systematic problem-solving process that guides all nursing actions, serves as the organizational framework for the practice of nursing, assists the nurse to provide goal-directed and client-centered care, and is composed of five (5) dynamic and interrelated phases: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• Health Assessment is conducted to gather subjective and objective data to determine a patient’s overall level of functioning for nurses to make a professional clinical judgement.
• Health Assessment is also conducted to collect physiological, psychological, sociocultural, developmental, and spiritual data about the patient.
• _ is the first and most critical phase of the nursing process and every healthcare professional performs assessment to make professional judgements related to the patient?

  assessment
• __ may change within minutes, hours or days; examples include blood pressure, pulse rate, and age?

  variable data
• ___ is influenced by the ability to obtain, recall, and apply knowledge; to communicate effectively; and to use a holistic approach?

  interpretation of findings
• ___ provides cues regarding the patient’s health and guides further data collection?

  health history taking
• _ of the assessment data affects all other phases of the nursing process?

  accuracy
• _ creates a patient record or becomes an addition to an existing health record?

  documentation
• The nurse must determine if findings fall within _________ and then the significance of the findings in relation to the patient’s health status and immediate and long-range health-related needs?

  within normal or expected ranges in relation to the patients age, gender, race
• __ is information that does not change over time such as race, sex or blood type?

  constant data
• ___ involves making determinations about all of the data collected in the health assessment process?

  interpretation of findings
• The __ is a legal document used to plan care, to communicate information between and among healthcare providers and to monitor the quality of care?

  patient record
• The purpose of ___ is to obtain information about the patient’s health in his or her own words and based on his or her own perceptions?

  health history taking
• __ provides means and opportunity to expand the subjective database regarding specific strengths, weaknesses, problems or concerns expressed by the patient.?

  focused interview
• _ must be accurate, confidential, appropriate, complete and detailed?

  documentation
• In documenting, the nurse must use _______ and must reflect professional and organizational standards?

  standard and accepted abbreviations, symbols, and terminologies
• During health history taking and focused interview, _______ that the patient experiences and communicates to the nurse are all considered?


  primary and secondary sources, subjective data, and information
• __ enables the nurse to clarify points, to obtain missing information and to follow up on verbal and nonverbal cues identified in the health history?

  focused interview