Strategies to Assist Families with Making Health-Related Decisions

Strategies to Assist Families with Making Health-Related Decisions Essay Assignment Paper

NURS 6541 Week 1 Discussion – Family

Family

Every family is unique. Families may differ in their structure, life cycle stages, functioning, social networks, beliefs, and other areas (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). Children depend on their families to nurture and support them throughout their lifetime (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). It is essential that healthcare providers include the family unit when providing care for pediatric patients. Family-centered care, where the health care provider partners with the family when providing care for the child, is important to promote the development of the child and the family unit (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2017). To provide care that is family centered and foster an open mind, healthcare providers should periodically examine their own beliefs about families (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). NURS 6541 Week 1 Discussion – Family Essay Biased family views from the provider can negatively impact the assessment, treatment, and outcomes of the patient (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017).

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Culture

Culture is a dynamic learned pattern of behavior which influences how people view the world (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). Culture is shaped by ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs, social status, educational attainment, economic status, and geographic location (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). An individual’s culture constantly changes over time as they are exposed to other cultures (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017). Healthcare providers can facilitate communication when they are aware of a patient’s cultural beliefs and integrate those beliefs into the assessment and treatment plans (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2017). The cultural beliefs of healthcare providers may strongly influence their medical recommendations (AAP, 2013). Health care providers should engage in self-reflection, self-knowledge and self-critique to understand their own cultural beliefs (AAP, 2013). Understanding their own beliefs will enable them to consciously realign the power underlying patient-provider communication and allow them to practice with cultural humility (AAP, 2013). Cultural variations in communication, both verbal and nonverbal, can be a barrier to effective patient care (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2013). Miscommunication in the patient -provider relationship can lead to problems such as an inaccurate history, misunderstanding of treatment recommendations, deferred follow-up visits, and poor patient outcomes (AAP, 2013).

Strategies to Assist Families with Making Health-Related Decisions

Establish an effective family-provider relationship: An effective family-provider relationship should be built on mutual respect, open and honest communication, trust, cultural competence, and collaboration (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2017). When providers and patients have an effective relationship, where they can successfully communicate and share in the decision-making process, treatment adherence will be increased, and better patient outcomes can be achieved (Smirnoff, 2013) NURS 6541 Week 1 Discussion – Family Essay.
Provide the family with appropriate information: Healthcare providers are an important source of information for the patient. Often, patients obtain information from outside sources (media, theorists, other family members, etc.) who may not have the best available evidence when they are providing recommendations to the family. Healthcare providers should ensure that family members are provided with evidence-based information on all proposed treatment regimens, and this information should include the risks and benefits of each proposed treatment option (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2017). Providing the patient with evidence-based information can help to facilitate the decision-making process NURS 6541 Week 1 Discussion – Family Essay.
Remove barriers to care: Providers can help patients to discover ways of obtaining needed resources, such as insurance, food, respite care, transportation, or monetary assistance, that may be needed to implement their health-related decisions (Burns, Dunn, Brady, Starr, Blosser, & Garzon, 2017).