Assignment: Role as an AGACNP

Question 1

What is your personal definition of health? How do the cultures of the population in your geographic location affect people’s perceptions of health? Provide an example from your experience as a nurse.

Question 2

How will your role as an AGACNP be important in providing health promotion and disease prevention? How will your role as an AGACNP be important in providing health maintenance? Provide examples of health promotion, maintenance, and prevention in either a primary, secondary, or tertiary environment.

DQ-1

Hudson

Coronary artery disease affects about 18 million adults over the age of 19, and results in over 300,00 deaths per year (CDC, 2019). Risk factors include hypertension, high LDL cholesterol levels, uncontrolled diabetes, and obesity. Additionally, lifestyle choices including an unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption can increase the risk of coronary artery disease. Given all of the risk factors, making sure the patient is properly educated can be a challenge, as patient education will most likely vary based on these risk factors. Once the patient’s risk factors are determined, an educational plan can be developed. Important things to consider are the patient’s likelihood of lifestyle changes – extreme, abrupt changes might be too overwhelming for a patient. For example, instead of telling a patient who eats fast food daily to completely eliminate fast food, a better initial option would be to suggest they limit it to only once a week. Additionally, a patient who is sedentary wouldn’t be expected to run a marathon in a month; a better recommendation would be to suggest the patient walk for a few minutes a day, and gradually increase the time they are exercising.

“Although vaccine rates have remained high in the United States as a while, national surveys can overlook pockets of vaccine refusal that exist in many communities” (Smith, 2017, p. 1). One thing I think is important to remember is that adults who were not vaccinated as children didn’t personally make that choice, it was their parents or guardians who chose not to vaccinate. I would discuss with the patient the important of the vaccinations, especially the great risk they have of adverse effects from diseases if they aren’t vaccinated. Ultimately, it is still the patient’s choice on whether or not to get vaccinated, but as health care professionals, it is our responsibility to provide patients with accurate education and counseling so that they are making an informed choice.

Assignment: Role as an AGACNP

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), (2019). Heart Disease Facts. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

Smith, T.C. (2017). Vaccine rejection and hesitancy: A review and call to action. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 4(3). Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/4/3/ofx146/3978712

DQ-2

Catania

I think that my role as an AGACNP will be important in providing health promotion and disease prevention due to the fact that I will be responsible for managing my patient’s healthcare either before an acute event or during, or after an acute event. I will be responsible for prescribing therapies that are evidence-based and designed to improve the patient’s situation and prevent the acute event from happening again.

There are a few local programs here that have volunteers to promote Stroke and Myocardial Infarction education to the public at the local community center. A part of my role would be to get involved with this in order to educate the population on Stroke and Myocardial infarctions on how to prevent them, recognize them, what to do in the event of, and when to call 911 to get them to the hospital so we can treat them appropriately.

For example, if someone has an embolic stroke in an acute care facility, I will be responsible for finding a blood-thinning medication that is suitable for treating and preventing this from occurring again as well as rehab, and ensuring that we have the appropriate means to ensure that the patient’s home is a safe environment as well. I will also be responsible for educating the patient and the patient’s family on what the acute event was, the disease process, interventions, and how to spot a stroke early so that appropriate interventions can be performed if it were to happen again.

As an AGACNP, I will be responsible for providing health maintenance while they are staying in the acute care facility by determining how to handle any other diseases or disease process that the patient may or may not have. For example, if a patient is admitted for an embolic stroke, but also has a history of COPD, I would be responsible for ensuring that the patient does not have a COPD exacerbation while in the hospital. I would be responsible for prescribing medications such as breathing treatments, and Bipap in the evenings to ensure that the patient is continuing the same therapies that worked for them while they were at home.

If I was in an outpatient setting I would be responsible for continually monitoring the patient’s overall health status, lifestyle, and any at-risk behaviors that the patient may be involved in that could exacerbate any disease process they currently have. I would also be responsible for titrating their medications if needed, to treat any worsening symptoms that may occur. I think education will be a big topic in the outpatient setting in order to inform the patient what to do and what not to do, to avoid any disease process that they may be at risk for.

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Assignment: Role as an AGACNP

DQ-3

MeaganClick to open Terms and conditions alert box.Click to open show privacy policy alert box.Click to open Technical Support alert box.

Health has many different definitions based on personal, social, and geographical properties. In my personal view health is being able to manage and prevent diseases that are debilitating, being able to afford basic essentials of living, being able to seek affordable medical care, and being free from disparities and inequities that would limit these things. Many people live with diseases and disabilities that are manageable and do not limit their abilities to perform daily activities or participate in social functions like work and leisure activities. When these diseases are either poorly managed or debilitating then their health status deteriorates or affects their ability to perform daily activities. In my geographical area of northern Houston there are a lot of poor, or low income, families that don’t have access to financial support or have medical coverage to support regular doctor visits. They rely on charitable distributions for food, shelter, and work in order to provide for themselves and their families. Many of these individuals would say that their health is affected by the support they are able to receive and the assistance provided by their communities. According to Stafford and Wood (2017) people who are homeless have higher morbidity, shorter life expectancies, and use acute hospital care more frequently that other populations (para 2). Many patients seek emergency room care just to have a clean bed, shelter, and food for the night due to lack of available resources elsewhere. Because these people are not able to afford regular medical care they have diseases that go unchecked and untreated for long enough that they cause disability and decline in the ability to perform basic personal care activities. I have cared for many individuals who were untreated diabetics, due to lack of financial and insurance means to cover medications, that come to the hospital for wounds that have become infected. Even with the best education and referral resources these patients are still unable to manage themselves out of the hospital due to their financial burdens. When more and more of these people exist in a community it drives up health care costs and utilizes more resources than what would be needed if these people had the ability to seek preventative medical care. These populations in my area also have the mindset that the hospitals are here to care for them when they need it, and that preventative care is a luxury they cannot afford. This affects the overall population health in my community as well. According to Okafor (2020) cost effective care and quality of care is improved when the mindset of care is shifted from curative to preventive, and that identifying social factors that affect health outcomes will help with optimizing the health care delivery system (p. 15). In my community we try had to provide local care for patients who cannot afford medical coverage by setting them up in our hospital based rehabilitation unit, helping then sign up for Medicaid/Medicare, and referring them to support groups that help in providing housing and food resources. Many times when we are discharging them we provide not only the education to care for themselves outside of the facility, but also the supplies needed short term to do so. I feel it is important to provide people of the community support when they need it in order to reduce the health care inequities and improve the overall health of the community to help reduce health care related costs.

References

Okafor, M. (2020). Population health. In J. S. Coviello (Eds.), Health promotion and disease prevention in clinical practice (3rd ed., pp. 3-31). Philadelphia, PA: Walter Kluwer Health.

Stafford, A. & Wood, L. (2017). Tackling health disparities for people who are homeless? Start with social determinants. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12), 1535. Doi: 10.3390/ijerph14121535

Assignment: Role as an AGACNP

Essay

Different cultural groups have unique beliefs and attitudes about health promotion and spirituality. It is important for a nurse practitioner to understand and adapt to those cultural and spiritual beliefs when educating patients.

Write a 750-1,000 word essay defining the AGACNP role of assessing the health and wellness of a specific patient population. Your essay should include three to five peer-reviewed sources.

A patient population can be a group of patients with the same chronic disease, same ethnicity, from the same community, or any other defined specific group.

Your essay should cover the following:

Establish how the specific patient population views chronic diseases and the maintenance of wellness.

Explain the cultural factors that may affect the attitudes of patients and families towards health promotion and maintenance.

Evaluate how your own personal worldview influences your attitudes and beliefs towards health maintenance of this patient population.

Evaluate how cultural bias may result in very different health-related preferences and perceptions.

You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. Assignment: Role as an AGACNP