A patient and family centered care study on Cellulitis

Abstract

Nursing now a profession has evolved through time to be the nursing known today. In the prehistoric era, nursing was “untaught” and instinctive which was performed out of compassion and desire to help others. It was based on experience and observation and was a woman’s function to naturally nurture the child, the sick and aged. Later it evolved and care was given by crusaders, prisoners and religious orders of the Christian Church while receiving on the job training from more experienced nurses. But nonetheless it made no much improvement in health as angry Protestants confiscated properties of hospitals connected with Roman Catholicism. Many nurses therefore fled for their lives. During the 19th and 20th centuries however, nursing developed as there were many wars, arousal of social consciousness and increased educational opportunities offered to women and the enormous role played by Florence Nightingale that cannot be over emphasized. The training of nurses in diploma program, licensing of nurses, specialization of hospitals and diagnosis, development of baccalaureate and advance degree programs and scientific and technological development as well as social changes mark this period. More than ever, today’s nurses need to think critically, creatively, and compassionately to reach out to all. The nursing process is a deliberate problem-solving approach for meeting a person’s health care and nursing needs. It consists of a sequence of steps in the following order: assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification (objective/outcome criteria), planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment is the systematic collection of data to determine the patient’s health status and identify any actual or potential health problems. Diagnosis is identification of actual, potential and collaborative patient problems whereas planning is the development of goals and outcomes, as well as a plan of care designed to assist the patient in resolving the diagnosed problems and achieving the identified goals and desired outcomes. Implementation is the actualization of the plan of care through nursing interventions and evaluation is determination of the patient’s responses to the nursing interventions and the extent to which the outcomes have been achieved. The patient/family care study forms part of the assessment of every final year student. It is a prerequisite for every candidate in order to partially fulfill the award of diploma certificate in Registered General Nursing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana. It affords the student the opportunity to develop his/her skills for future use. The patient/family care study is a comprehensive account of the comprehensive nursing care rendered to the patient and family from the day of admission through the day of discharge, review and follow up visits. The confidentiality of the patient and family were ensured by the use of patient/family initials instead of their full names. The comprehensive care rendered was made possible by the employment of skills and knowledge in such disciplines as psychology, public health nursing, medical nursing, surgical nursing, pharmacology and nutrition and dietetics to meet the patient/family’s needs and the community at large.