The healthcare provider’s definition of family and family roles influences pediatric assessment as well as the subsequent family (Potter et al., 2013). The term family and family roles alike have diverse meanings when it comes to different cultural contexts and may vary from the ideal family definition or description. For instance, if a healthcare provider has a static or rigid definition of family and subsequently family roles, it becomes pretty hard to switch from one family circumstances to the other when conducting pediatric and family assessment (DeLaune & Ladner, 2010). For example when assessing a child from a children’s home it might be hard for a healthcare provider with a rigid definition of family to contextualize with this uniqueness and conduct an appropriate assessment.
Culture equally plays a major role in shaping assessment due diversity. People’s perceptions, definitions of concepts and worldviews are dictated by their immediate cultural background and the individual components of assessment are influenced by culture. For example, some cultures do not approved discussion of various aspects such as sexuality and hence impair the process of assessment.
A healthcare provider has the obligation to assist families in making the right health decisions for their child. Among the key approaches that could be used is patient education, whereby the parent or the guardian is educated on various healthy issues such as diets and environmental modification thereby enabling them to make suitable healthcare decisions (DeLaune & Ladner, 2010). Additionally, the internet provides a viable platform where health-related information can be obtained. In this regard, it would be appropriate to educate the family on the best websites that offer credible healthcare information so that they can visit the websites on their own and obtain relevant and useful information pertaining to health whereby the information obtained can be used in guiding their decisions. As a third strategy, “a take-away” health brochure can help families in making health-related information through offering guidelines and providing a point of reference.
These strategies may however vary when taking care of persons from different age groups and family backgrounds. People at different age groups have different developmental and growth characteristics that shape their cognitive abilities and hence mode of consuming healthcare information (Lillis et al., 2010). For instance, for elderly patients, it is imperative to use specific strategies that cater for their unique learning needs. Additionally, a chosen strategy must satisfy all the cultural needs of a patient including, the ability to show respect for a unique patient’s culture (Giger, 2014).
References
DeLaune, S., & Ladner, P. (2010). Fundamentals of nursing. Nelson Education.
Lillis, C., LeMone, P., LeBon, M., & Lynn, P. (2010). Study guide for fundamentals of nursing: The art and science of nursing care. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Giger, J. N. (2014). Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2013). Fundamentals of nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
