Critique of Last Physical Assessment
Instructions:
Assignment 2
Critique your last physical assessment on the basis of health promotion, health prevention, and comfort for you as the patient. Write an 800 word paper that addresses the following questions:
- Did the provider evaluate lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise?
- Did the provider explain the side effects of your medication?
- Was there an agreement on the plan of care?
- What was the environment like? Welcoming, comfortable, dirty, and clean?
- Did the provider answer your questions and perform a complete health history?
- Was the physical assessment complete and correct? (Did the provider listen to your lung sounds through clothing?)
- Did the provider see you in your street clothes or in a patient gown?
Prepare this assignment according to APA format. An abstract is required.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Make sure that the Turnitin percent is less than 10% for the assignment and that you use references in the past five years (2011-2016).
Solution.
Critique of Last Physical Assessment
Introduction
A wide variety of factors plays an important influencing role in the care provider’s physical assessment of a patient. Such factors include the care providers attributes, care environment attributes, and patient attributes. Together, these factors influence the quality of information collected from the patient. This essay provides a critique of the last physical assessment with regard to criteria such as the criteria evaluated and the involvement of the patient in the care provision process.
Critique
An appropriate physical assessment process should evaluate a wide range of issues regarding the patient and not just the aspects directly related to the illness. Such information includes lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise, an imperative that my last physical assessment satisfied. Given the impact of these factors on the health of an individual, this was an important step in ensuring that the physician acquired a comprehensive understanding of my condition. The physician asked general questions regarding lifestyle such as daily activities. On nutrition, the provider asked questions pertaining to dietary habits. Finally, the provider also asked about engagement in physical exercise. These are all important aspects related to a patient’s history. The other aspect of the critique considers the side effects of medication. The care provider explained the side effects associated with my medication without my prompting. The provider explained the side effects thoroughly and in a manner that was easy to understand. He also elaborated on the areas that I indicated were difficult to understand.
The care provider followed an integrated approach to the assessment process, where they applied both patient-centered and clinician-centered approaches. The provider was very considerate of my input as a patient. The application of a patient-centered approach has been noted to have benefits that include better communication between the patient and care provider and the adherence of the patient to the treatment plan (Rocco, Scher, Basberg, Yalamanchi, & Baker-Genaw, 2011). These benefits ultimately result in an improvement in the patient’s health outcomes. Part of the patient-centered care approach entails a shared decision-making process. My care provider exercised this imperative in regard to the plan of care, where my input and consent were sought. Ultimately, this meant that there was an agreement between the provider and me on the plan of care. Given my involvement in the development of the plan of care, I felt more inclined to adhere by it, since I felt a sense of ownership over it.
Apart from the interpersonal factors, the physical environment is an important consideration. The inherent features of the physical environment play an important role in encouraging the patient to open up. Factors such as privacy and cleanliness are important in contributing to the generation of a conducive environment. The physical environment during my last physical assessment was generally conducive and encouraged me to open up. The environment was private. It was large, open, and well ventilated. Items were well arranged and overall, the ambience generally encouraged me to open up.
As earlier noted, the provider was very patient centered in his approach. He gave due consideration to my questions and worries. This included answering any questions that I had regarding the care process and on any questions or procedures. In addition to this, the provider also performed an extensive examination of my health history. This included a history of my medical illness, drug use habits, and the symptomatic manifestations of the illness. The health history captured not just the aspects of the current illness, but also other aspects of my health such as family health history. In this regard, the provider had already gone through my medical records, and asked questions related to what was already in the records.
It is merely not enough for a care provider to complete the physical assessment process. Rather, the assessment must also be done correctly, by adhering to those procedures that enhance the correctness of the assessment process. For example, when listening to lung sounds, it is imperative that this is not done over clothing. This imperative is guided by the fact that clothing has an attenuating effect on lung sounds (Pellico, et al., 2014). My care provider observed this requirement, and conducted the auscultation directly on the skin. On the issue of clothing, providers can view a patient either in their street clothes or in a patient gown. Patient gowns have the advantage of facilitating easier access to the patient’s body and as such, make it easier for the care provider to conduct physical examinations on the patient. In my case, the provider saw me in my street clothes. It was not necessary for me to change since my condition was not one that was expected to lead to my hospitalization. Despite my being in street clothes, the care provider was able to perform all physical assessments correctly.
Conclusion
This essay has provided a critique of the last physical
assessment process. The care provider conducted an extensive review of the
patient’s medical history. The effectiveness of the process was enhanced by
characteristics of the physical environment, which made the ambience conducive.
Moreover, the care provider observed good practices such as not auscultating
over clothing.
References
Pellico, L. H., Fennie, K., Tillman, S., Duffy, T. C., Friedlaender, L., & Graham, G. (2014). Artwork and music: Innovative approaches to physical assessment.”. Arts & Health, 6(2), 162-175.
Rocco, N., Scher, K., Basberg, B., Yalamanchi, S., & Baker-Genaw, K. (2011). Patient-centered plan-of-care tool for improving clinical outcomes. Quality Management in Healthcare, 20(2), 89-97.