Nur 440 - Assessment Tool Analysis Paper

Assessment Tool Analysis Paper

NUR/440

April 27, 2015

Professor Coral Hackett

Assessment Tool Analysis Paper

        Assessment tools are useful in the nursing process. These tools help in the evaluation of the physical, psychosocial, and emotional aspects of the patient and their family members. (DeChesnay & Anderson, 2012).  A variety of assessment tools are at the disposal of the ursing profession providing guidelines for patient care strategies.  Assessment tools help in resource alignment for the elderly patients. The elderly patients due to the many factors of aging are a part of a vulnerable population.  Alignment of modalities for improving the quality of care strategies in the development of family cohesiveness, and promoting mental, and psychosocial interactions come through the use of the appropriate assessment tools.  Watson’s theory of human caring focuses on the mechanisms of the elderly patient and his or her families with the incorporation of mind, body, and spirit.  The Quality outcomes require assessment tools focusing on their alignment (DeChesnay & Anderson, 2012).  The professional nurse’s role requires the appropriate and necessary tools that will address the individual unique care situation. The outcome focuses on a resolution of poor outcomes to those of improvement.  The three assessment tools that are appropriate for Mr. Bley are The Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), and The Hassles and Uplifts Inventory.

        Mr. Bley is an 84-year-old retired veteran (Pearson, 2014).  .  He was the patient the author discussed as a member of the vulnerable population in a previous paper.  Mr. Bley’s current medical and psychosocial conditions of moderate emphysema and hearing loss have a significant impact on himself that his social interactions with his wife and family (Pearson, 2014).  Mr.Bley’s risks for some medical and psychosocial co-morbidities increase not only himself but his wife at risk for a poor quality of life.  His limitations are unclear to himself because of his non-acceptance requiring ongoing intervention to prevent future risk to his and his families’ quality of life.   Dr. Watson’s theory of human caring focus on an individual and his or her care between three spheres of influence that is mind, body, and spirit (DeChesnay & Anderson, 2012).  An Individuals freedom is paramount in making his or her decisions of their life status.  These choices of the three spheres that come through in self-actualizations.  Mr. Bley’s actions are in contradiction with his environment and to what his body or physical conditions are presenting to the quality of his current life situation. His perceptions to his physical condition do not align with his mind and spirit.  This unification is a fundamental concept of Watson theory of care (DeChesnay & Anderson, 2012).

        As a nurse, we must impart Mr. Bley’s spiritual and cultural beliefs, life experiences into his personal psychosocial goals.  The process encompasses both expectations of wellness and also respecting his individuality with the development of his quality of care.  Health care practices must address the implications of diverse populations on the access and individual rights for the patients care.  Nursing advocates strives for the patient health needs that provide a balance between the value and beliefs of the patient and health care provider.  The three assessment tools that are key to addressing the vulnerable elderly population are the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, and the Hassles and Uplifts Inventory.

        The Ways of Coping Questionnaire incorporate the use of a 66-item instrument to investigate an individual coping mechanism with stress (Hayat, 2013).  Focus has placed on an individual’s reaction to stress, not the stressor.  Assessment is through the relational interaction action between stressors and the resulting coping mechanism. These results address the physical, social, and psychological qualities to the stressor.  The target population consists of early to elder adults for this assessment tool.   Evaluation comes through questions that occur five times over a five-month period.  Limitations can occur with the Ways of Coping Questionnaire due to a limitation of information that is reliable on ongoing evaluations at established standpoint (Hayat, 2013).  The study does provide clinical measurement strategies providing information on an individual acceptance of previous stressful events and his or her coping mechanisms which come through their life experiences.

        The Ways of Coping Questionnaire use questions regarding a patient’s current coping mechanisms related to their health along with developing of measuring intervention during the nursing assessment that are required for an interview by the health care professional .  The Coping Questionnaire provides a mechanism to measure interventional effectiveness. This research tool is useful in the clinical settings to determine stressful stimulus (Chatterjee, 2014).  Nursing Professional can focus their care on impacting patient outcomes through the interventional development that can promote improvements in the delivery of quality of health care.