A Patient/ Family Care Study on Gastritis

Abstract

Previously, nursing was just caring for the sick on the sick bed. The nursing profession began to change rapidly under the influence of Florence Nightingale. Nursing has changed from caring for the sick to include taking of medical history and conducting physical examination which was previously the duty of the medical doctor. According to Virginia Henderson, nursing is the process of assisting the individual either sick or well in the performance of those activities which contribute to health or peaceful death that he would have performed unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence and rapidly as possible. Due to modernization, nursing has been changed to a holistic and individual nursing care of a client by means of new techniques employed in the profession. To provide holistic and efficient nursing care to patient and family, the student nurse employs knowledge and skills in all areas of discipline, such as; psychology, sociology, surgery, pharmacology, public health and medicine to meet the needs of the client, family and community as a whole. Patient/Family care study is a written script on individualized nursing care rendered to a patient in relation to his disease condition at a specific period of time. The care is based on the theoretical and practical experienced acquired by the student nurse through the three-year training. The study forms part of the assessment of the student nurse by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana for the award of Professional Diploma Certificate. The patient’s care was carried out making use of the scientific approach to nursing care which is the nursing process. The study helps the student to gain knowledge in all areas of medical science to care for clients as individuals. The patient and family care study starts from the day of admission to the time of discharge and continue in the community to ensure optimum health through home visit. For the purpose of confidentiality, the name of my patient and family relatives were stated using initials throughout the care study.