Reply 1

Explain the role of health education in health promotion. How is the nursing process used in developing health education? Describe a contemporary issue, local or global, that a family may experience today. What steps would the nurse take to address these as part of a health education plan?

The role of health education in health promotion is vital. Health promotion by definition is “educating people about healthy lifestyles, reduction of risk, developmental needs, activities of daily living (ADL’s) and preventive self-care.” (Whitney et al., 2018). In order to live a healthy lifestyle an individual must know what a “healthy lifestyle” consists of. The same goes for reducing risks, ADL’s, preventative self-care and developmental needs. It is important for the healthcare professional or in our case, the nurse, to educate an individual continuously for the duration of the patient’s care with the nurse. They should be educated on what the medications are that they are being given, as well as why it is being administered, dosage, route etc. For example, patients always want to know why they are getting Lovenox or Protonix when they have not taken it before. They should also be educated on diet choices, at the hospital that I work at, sometimes the patients will be placed on certain diets like nothing by mouth (NPO), American Diabetes Association (ADA), renal, heart healthy, low potassium etc., and they state that they do not have diet restrictions at home, so they have to be educated on why they were placed on the diet and they should consider this type of diet once discharged.

The nursing process is used in developing health education because the nurse must assess the patient. This assessment is not only a head to toe assessment, but the nurse must also determine the patients needs, readiness to learn and the patient’s ability and desire to actively engage in their plan of care and meeting goals. Then the nurse makes their nursing diagnoses, for example is their non-compliance evident, immobility, learning deficit etc. The nurse then develops a plan of care and action that can be made with the patient and begins to implement the plan of care. The nurse and patient evaluate how well they are meeting their care goals and continue to develop a plan that changes to the patients needs and better assists with meeting goals. Throughout the whole process the nurse is educating the patient on what the problem is preventing the patient from getting better and then the nurse educates the patient on how they can work towards solving that problem.

A contemporary issue that a family may experience today is the issue of vaccination. There is a lot of information out there that is telling parents to not vaccinate their children. However, recently there was an issue with a measles outbreak in New York where I live, as well as some other states. In the media there became this discussion about the importance of vaccinating your children, not only for their safety but also for the safety of others around them. According to an article titled “Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance” discusses the importance of vaccinations and how they have led to a significant decrease in preventable diseases that can be fatal to humans. There is discussion about a concept called “herd immunity”, which is when a large group of people get immunized for a certain pathogen then those who are unable to be vaccinated (some cases of immunocompromised individuals) benefit from being at a lower risk of contracting the pathogen. (Ventola, 2016). The article also discusses that healthcare professionals are strongly urged to educate the public about the importance of vaccination, and how it leads to a decrease in deaths and preventable diseases, as the best way to decrease the amount of individuals that are non-compliant with vaccinations. It is important for the nurse to educate patients and individuals on how something such as vaccines can not only benefit them but also others around them, like loved ones.

Ventola C. L. (2016). Immunization in the United States: Recommendations, Barriers, and Measures to Improve Compliance: Part 1: Childhood Vaccinations. P & T : a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, 41(7), 426–436.

Whitney, S., Helbig, J., Green, S. Z., Falkner, A., Dean, J. K., & Grand Canyon University. (2018). Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from

https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-conti

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Reply 2

Health education is the key in health promotion because health promotion is always initiated by health education. According to Falkner, “Nurses are actively involved in both health promotion and health education, providing education that is necessary to help patients achieve control over the promotion of their own health” (Falkner, 2018). Educating patients about the importance of health promotion helps patients realize the importance of health promotion and motivate them to start promoting their health. Health education also keeps health promotion going as patients’ health promotion plans may need to be adjusted as their conditions change. Nursing process is utilized when developing health education. Nursing process includes assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessing patient’s knowledge by asking questions can help nurses identify how much patients already know about their conditions and what the education should focus on. Diagnosis helps the nurse to identify patient’s weaknesses. Planning refers to the process of creating a patient-specific education plan after considering individual’s situations which includes age, culture, etc. Finally implementing the education and evaluating the outcome for future improvement. A contemporary issue that a lot of American families facing is obesity. Nurses should utilize the nursing process when creating education plans for these families. The first step is always assessing. The nurse should assess the family’s knowledge about their daily diet, what is a healthy diet, and their exercise patterns. Then the nurses should find out what problems this family has and come up with an education plan that focus on these problems. After diagnosing and planning are done, the nurse should then educate the family as planed and follow up with the family to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and make necessary adjustments.

Falkner, A. (2018). Health Promotion in Nursing Care. Health promotion: Health & Wellness across the continuum.Retrieve from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/5