To complete this assignment, do the following:
- Using the textbook, complete the “Children’s Functional Health Pattern Assessment.” Follow the instructions in the resource for completing the assignment.
- Cite and reference any outside sources used in your answers. Include in your assessment a thorough discussion of Erickson’s Stages of Child Development as it pertains to the development age of the child.
Children’s Functional Health Pattern Assessment
Short Answer Questions
Address the following based on the above assessment findings. Expected answers will be 1-2 paragraphs in length. Cite and reference outside sources used.
1) Compare and contrast identified similarities as well as differences in expected assessment across the childhood age groups.
2) Summarize how a nurse would handle physical assessments, examinations, education, and communication differently with children versus adults. Consider spirituality and cultural differences in your answer.
Short Answer Questions
1 Children are faced with challenges as they go through developmental stages. Family culture, religion and values directly affect the child’s developmental struggle. These developmental phases respond to each assessment pattern. For example, the toddler and preschool child need more structure and routine while the school aged children take the learned behaviors from being toddler and develop on them as they move towards their development of identity.
The primary activity for preschoolers and toddler continues to play. Preschoolers involve other children in their activity unlike toddlers that limit their play and activities to home. The preschooler has a longer and more rigid bedtime ritual than the toddler. School aged children, unlike toddlers and preschoolers experience few difficulties with going to bed. (Edelman & Mandle, 2010).
2 Children should be treated as equal partners in health care triad (Javis, 2012). In the first stage of interview, nurses should include the child. It is important for nurses to interact with the parent of a toddler or preschooler first; this is to give the child opportunity to gain trust. It is very important for the child to trust the nurse and this can only be possible if the child notice that the caregiver has accepted and trust the nurse. For the toddler and preschooler, the parent will be providing most of the health history. With the preschool age population, they may be sole source of important data to the history (Javis, 2012).
The nurse needs to be aware of various developmental stages that children go through. It is very important to note that during physical assessment, toddlers and preschoolers should sit on their parent’s lap while the school age should sit on the examining bed. The nurse should use simple language at the level of the child when talking to the child so the child can understand. The nurse should always allow the child to hold and play with medical instruments during examination. This will make them feel free and involved in their own care, also maintains trust. Sharing reading materials or media to look at can help divert their attention away from the nurse (Javis, 2012).
