2011 Gallup Poll

According to a 2011 Gallup poll, nurses are ranked as the most trusted professionals in the United States. One of the most admired nursing skills is the ability to put patients at ease. When patients enter into a healthcare setting, they are often apprehensive about sharing personal health information. Caring nurses can alleviate the hesitance of patients and encourage them to be forthcoming with this information.

The initial health history interview can be an excellent opportunity to develop supportive relationships between patients and nurses. Nurses may employ a variety of communication skills and interview techniques to foster strong bonds with patients and to effectively facilitate the diagnostic process. In conducting interviews, advanced practice nurses must also take into account a range of patient-specific factors that may impact the questions they ask, how they ask those questions, and their complete assessment of the patient’s health.

This week, you will consider how social determinants of health such as age, gender, ethnicity, and environmental situation impact the health and risk assessment of the patients you serve. You will also consider how social determinants of health influence your interview and communication techniques as you work in partnership with a patient to gather data to build an accurate health history.

The Question

The Patient:

38-year-old Native American pregnant female living on a reservation

Please make sure that you answer all of the required info in your post:

· How would your communication and interview techniques for building a health history differ with each patient?

· How might you target your questions for building a health history based on the patient’s social determinants of health?

· What risk assessment instruments would be appropriate to use with each patient, or what questions would you ask each patient to assess his or her health risks?

· Identify any potential health-related risks based upon the patient’s age, gender, ethnicity, or environmental setting that should be taken into consideration.

· Select one of the risk assessment instruments presented in Chapter 1 or Chapter 5 of the Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination text, or another tool with which you are familiar, related to your selected patient.

· Develop at least five targeted questions you would ask your selected patient to assess his or her health risks and begin building a health history.

READING RESOURCES

Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2019). Seidel’s guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.

· Chapter 1, “The History and Interviewing Process”

This chapter explains the process of developing relationships with patients in order to build an effective health history. The authors offer suggestions for adapting the creation of a health history according to age, gender, and disability.

· Chapter 5, “Recording Information”

This chapter provides rationale and methods for maintaining clear and accurate records. The authors also explore the legal aspects of patient records.

Sullivan, D. D. (2019). Guide to clinical documentation (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis.

· Chapter 2, “The Comprehensive History and Physical Exam” (pp. 19–29)

Adly, N. N., Abd-El-Gawad, W. M., & Abou-Hashem, R. M. (2019). Relationship between malnutrition and different fall risk assessment tools in a geriatric in-patient unit. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 32(7), 1279–1287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01309-0

Chow, R. B., Lee, A., Kane, B. G., Jacoby, J. L., Barraco, R. D., Dusza, S. W., Meyers, M. C., & Greenberg, M. R. (2019). Effectiveness of the “Timed Up and Go” (TUG) and the Chair test as screening tools for geriatric fall risk assessment in the ED. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 37(3), 457–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2018.06.015

Diamond-Fox, S. (2021). Undertaking consultations and clinical assessments at advanced level. British Journal of Nursing, 30(4), 238–243. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2021.30.4.238