It is necessary to have health care physicians providing holistic services to patients, especially children, with reference to the environmental meta-paradigm of nursing. Physicians in the health care system must be actively involved in providing care beyond the walls of the health care facility. They should be actively engaged in ensuring patients and their families live in an environment that does not subject them to recurrent health hazards. The traditional model of offering child health care is based on four factors, including affordability, accessibility, whether it is appropriate, and availability. Accessibility entails the physical proximity of health care centers and some barriers like language. Cultural issues must be considered when enhancing accessibility to health care services. Affordability entails the cost of acquiring quality health care services for child patients. This factor encapsulates the financial status of the parents and the presence of insurance coverage for the children. The services available in the facility must also be appropriate to suffice the needs of the children. It entails the presence of the necessary equipment and expertise to help the children. Parents need to feel safe and welcome to the clinics to keep bringing their children for health care services, and this spells out the availability of the services.
It is the obligation of the physicians in charge of a patient to ensure they spend ample time with the patients and their relatives. The physicians should develop a culture of getting involved in providing education to parents, and helping them develop a long-term health care plan for their children. Clinicians must also train to ask the right questions to utilize the short time they spend with the patients and their relatives. Physicians must also be compelled to collect demographic data on their patients to develop a clear understanding of the environmental needs in which their patients might need assistance. Physicians should also start questioning the children to identify some of their individual needs because parents do not always give the appropriate answers. For instance, nurses should evaluate children’s cognitive skills instead of asking their parents about their learning abilities.
Nurses should be actively involved in providing care for children beyond the clinic walls. They should take time to study the children in their schools, playgrounds, and respective homes to identify factors that may predispose them to various health conditions. This is a holistic preventive health care approach that would effectively keep children from having frequent visits to the clinic with the same health conditions. Nurses should advocate having children provided with safer living environments. Different organizations and community advocacy groups should also be compelled to take part in clinical advocacy in child health promotion. Partnering groups should also help in providing parents with assistance to keep their children healthy. Some community agencies are underutilized by the people, but health care physicians can provide a link to help people access the resources available to the agencies. Most of the frequent illnesses in children are related to nutrition, early intervention, and fitness issues. Physicians should look into addressing these issues through the voluntary provision of information and assistance to parents. The concept of the medical home should be applied to every household to improve the health outcomes of children in the community. In conclusion, the provision of a holistic approach to health care services for children is a viable approach to developing a healthy community.