Complete your Week 3 replies 4|2025

Discussion Prompt #1

How should you use Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns to assess individual health? What health screening interventions do you regularly participate in?

Reply 1 Ingrid

Gordon’s functional health patterns provides the groundwork for the development of the NANDA-I nursing diagnosis nomenclature. The Functional Health Patterns should be utilized in a manner that through the assessment and collection of data will lead to identifying the problem or diagnostic statement (Mandle, 2013). To have an effective health assessment, physiological parameters must be considered along with how the patient interacts with their surroundings and environment. The Functional Health Patterns is utilized by obtaining the following data:

· Objective data: observations of nurse, physical examination findings, information from health record, results of clinical testing.

· Function data: description of person’s health status.

· Structure data: Organization of interdependent parts describing health, function, patterns of behavior that reflect whole individual and environment.

· Process: Interview, observation, and examination

· Format: Systematic but flexible, individualized to each person, nurse, and situation.

· Goal: Nursing diagnosis or problem identification (Mandle, 2013).

Health screening interventions I participate in is when a patient is a patient is seeking treatment regarding drug addiction. At my place of employment, patients who seek drug addiction treatment are provided with the medication Suboxone which is a combination medication of buprenorphine and naloxone. The medication has the potential to slow or stop breathing and has the tendency to cause addiction, overdose, and death (n.d.). Patients interested in participating in this treatment program are often screened for last alcohol use, last smoking, and last drug use. They are also questioned regarding preferred drug of choice and are subjected to a urine toxicology screening every 3 weeks.

Reply 2 Kristine

Gorden’s functional health pattern was deployed by Marjorie Gordon. This functional health framework provides a sequence of repeated behavior from different patterns that consists of health perception and management, elimination, nutritional-metabolic pattern, activity-exercise, sleep-rest, cognitive perceptual and role-relationship and stress tolerance patterns. Gordon’s health pattern is considered ideal to evaluate an individual’s health because it includes all those factors that put influence on the person’s health such as biological, development, cultural, social and spiritual factors. By considering all these factors in Gordon’s health patterns, healthcare professionals do a complete evaluation of an individual’s health. In this evaluation, some interventions are confronted by practitioners like other health pattern frameworks. Basically, in this framework, data is collected in subjective form and it is possible that some data can be manipulated by an individual about his or her health. This depicts an inaccurate assessment of his or her health. Hence, it is suggesting to use objective information about a person during this health’s assessment to obtain an accurate health assessment (NursingAnswers.net, 2020).

Discussion Prompt #2

What family characteristics may contribute to potential or actual dysfunctional health patterns?

Reply 1 Valery

Culture and environment can contribute greatly to health patterns.  Family is the main component of many patients environment especially when socio economics is considered.  In my position one of the assessments we complete is home environment and family history.  Just by questioning patients regarding their family and living situation we gain lots of insight.  For example, I had a patient that always complained of cough and chest pain but reported no smoking or tobacco use.  When I asked about her family history she mentioned that her mom recently was diagnosed with lung cancer due to smoking.  I remembered that she told me they lived together so I investigated further asking if the mother smoked in the house.  She said yes and I was able to let the physician know all of the details.  Orders for pulmonary function tests and chest xrays were processed with a diagnosis code of family history of lung cancer, and contact with and (suspected) exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (acute) (chronic).  This helps insurance understand the reasoning for request for the further diagnostic tests.

Reply 2 Kristopher

Family history, roles-relationship patterns, and lifestyle can influence some probable dysfunctional health patterns. Family history encompasses health-related patterns of values, goals, or beliefs through which people make choices or decisions. In essence, this takes into account quality of life, expectations, what is perceived to be important, and any perceived conflicts in the values and beliefs a person holds.

Family structure and functions occur at different stages and pose varied risk factors that contribute to health complications. Socioeconomic status, whether measured by income, education or occupational status, and lack of safety can lead to illness, child abuse, injuries, accidents, and sudden infant death syndrome. Also literacy, educational level, cultural beliefs and habits may contribute to dysfunctional health pattersn such as noncompliance with medical treatment.

Families with school-aged children may also influence health patterns due to poverty, abuse or neglect, poor nutrition, and repeated infections, accidents, or hospitalization (Mandle, 2013).