Description of Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns Coursework

Introduction

The modern practice of nursing has evolved from the situations where the nurse used to only look at the clinical aspects of the health of the patients. Nowadays, nursing takes a holistic approach to the patient; it attempts to understand some of the problems, which, though not clinical, may contribute to the health of the individual. This is a deviation from the conventional nursing practice, which looked only at the clinical problems of the patient and therefore devised methods of treating the clinical symptoms manifested in the patient.

In most instances, the treatment failed to yield the expected results, thus necessitating the creation of another system whose efficiency would be far much greater. Thus, modern nursing practices take a comprehensive approach to the health of the individuals and therefore attempt to come up with solutions of non-clinical aspects of the health of the individual that would ultimately affect his health. One of the most popular nursing assessment methods, which take a holistic approach to the health assessment of the patient, is Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns developed by Marjory Gordon to help in patient assessment.

Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns

This method takes a holistic approach to health assessment and is the most common nursing assessment method. It is divided into eleven sections that assess the patient on different aspects of his health.

Health Perception – Health Management Pattern

This mainly refers to how an individual views his health status and the health practices that the individual uses to maintain his health condition. Thus, by looking at the intrinsic perception of the individual health of the person, the nurse can know his attitude toward certain health practices, which may be beneficial to the individual (Edelman & Mandle, 2005). In addition, the nurse can know the health status of the individual by looking at his grooming, appearance, posture, expressions, height, and weight (Weber, 2009). The following questions are posted by the nurse.

1. Question: How often do you seek medical intervention when faced with medical problems?
2. Response:I normally do not seek medical interventions occasionally even if I have an ailment. I mostly use self-medication to treat any ailment, which I have. I would seek medical intervention only if the situation worsens.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Schedule an appointment with the client once every two months in your medical facility
   2. Increase field trips to the client’s location or request additional nurses who would carry out the field trips.

Nutrition – Metabolic Pattern

The nutrition or metabolic pattern of an individual directly affects his health. In this section, the nurse attempts to determine the dietary habits of the individual, which includes not only intake of food, but also intake of fluids. Therefore, the nurse would do a general physical survey of the patient, which is usually affected by the dietary pattern of the individual. This includes the skin, abdomen, mouth, and cranial nerves (Weber, 2009). The nurse may also attempt to understand factors that affect the availability of food to the individual, which thus affects his nutrition (Stanhope & Knollmueler, 2001).

1. Question: How many glasses of water do you take in a day?
2. Response: Two glasses. One glass after lunch and the other after supper.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Create a timetable and ensure that you take at least a glass of water after every four hours.
   2. Always ensure that you carry at least two bottles of water when you are going out for a walk.

Elimination Pattern

Gastrointestinal and renal systems are used for the elimination of substances that had been ingested by the individual. The nurses should therefore evaluate the functionality and pattern of elimination of the ingested substances by the systems (Eldelman & Mandle, 2005).

1. Question: do you experience any pain or discomfort while relieving yourself?
2. Response: Yes. I experience pain while passing urine.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Undertake skin examination.
   2. Undertake urinal passage examination.

Activity – Exercise Pattern

Exercising or activities, which a person undertakes tends to affect the health of the individual. Exercising in adolescents helps improve their endurance, appearance, and general state of their health. All these can be transmitted to the adult health of the individual (Eldelman & Mandle, 2005). In adults, the activities they undertake daily – be it in their work or social life – that require the use of energy, directly affects their health. Such activities include walking to work, morning exercises, or jobs that involve the use of physical energy. Therefore, the nurses should evaluate the above aspects of the individuals to determine their health status.

1. Question: Do you normally practice in the morning.
2. Response: No. I usually have muscle pains whenever I practice hence I avoid them.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Request the client to make a practice schedule, which requires him to run short distances and gradually increase the distances.
   2. Request the client to use alternative means of transport to work. If he used to drive to work request him to sometimes walk to work if he works in a place, which is within a walking distance from his home.

Sleep–Rest Pattern

Sleep or rest helps the body to rejuvenate; for an individual to be healthy, he should therefore have enough sleep. The sleep or rest pattern of an individual is affected by several factors, for instance, the availability of free time affects the sleep pattern of individuals. Therefore, if a person has a very demanding job or has several commitments that take up a large chunk of his time, he is bound to have irregular or less time for sleeping or resting. This in turn strains the health of the individual (Eldelman & Mandle, 2005).

1. Question: do you have ample time to rest or is your rest disturbed by certain factors.
2. Response: I usually have enough rest and sleep. I live in a cool and quiet place which does not have any disturbances
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Create a timetable of the time you go to bed and when you wake up.
   2. Avoid taking pills to aid you in sleeping.

Cognitive – Perceptual Pattern

The cognitive perception pattern is generally divided into sensory perception patterns and cognitive patterns. Sensory perceptual pattern includes all the common senses of hearing, seeing, smell, taste, and touch. The nurse would therefore test whether the individual is capable of using all the sensory organs (Daniels & Daniels, 2004). Cognitive pattern refers to the individual knowledge and how he can decipher knowledge (Weber, 2009). The nurse should also look at the individual’s cognitive skills of language understanding and expressions of ideas.

1. Question: Do you have problems expressing your thoughts and ideas?
2. Response: I am not usually fluent. I stammer when expressing my thoughts and ideas.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Undertake a mental status examination.
   2. Organize for speech therapy of the client.

Self – Perception – Self – Concept Pattern

This refers to how the individual perceives his self-worth, personal identity and feelings (Weber, 2009). This term can be used to mean the self-esteem or self-concept of the individual. The self-esteem of the individual can be easily determined by observing the individual’s body posture, movement, eye contact, and voice and speech patterns. In addition, self-esteem can also be determined by the emotions, moods and thought content of the individual.

1. Question: Are you so much concerned about other people’s perceptions of you?
2. Response: Yes of course. I usually get so upset and may even be involved in a physical fight if someone shows prejudice towards me.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Ask the client to avoid people who are proud and would derive pleasure by inflicting pain on others.
   2. Teach the client how to freely express himself.

Role – Relationship Pattern

This refers to the relationships that the individual has and the roles he plays in those relationships. The nurse should also seek to determine the level of satisfaction that the individual derives from the relationships.

1. Question: what kind of social groups are you involved in?
2. Response: I am not involved in any social group. I usually spend most of my time at work and hence do not have time to socialize.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Organize for the enrolment of the client in different social groups.
   2. Closely monitor the participation of the client in different social groups.

Sexuality – Reproductive Pattern

This refers to the individual’s sexual identity, sexual activity, and relations that express the individual’s sexuality. The level of satisfaction of sexual patterns and the reproduction patterns is also incorporated into the health of the individual (Weber, 2009). The nurses should also evaluate the individual on his/her knowledge of issues, which relate to his/her sexuality.

1. Question: Do you normally get satisfaction from engaging in sex with your partner?
2. Response: No. I feel usually feel excruciating pain while engaging in the act.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Genitalia examination.
   2. Evaluate client for history of sexual abuse.

Coping – Stress – Tolerance Pattern

Gordon’s functional health patterns also look at the psychological health of individuals. The psychological health symptoms directly affect physical health. Individuals are constantly exposed to factors, which may trigger stress or depression in the individual. Therefore, the stress tolerance of the individuals is very important to determine the health status of the individual.

1. Question: How do you view life?
2. Response: Life is generally unfair since hard work is not rewarded in.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Organize counseling sessions for the client.
   2. Offer a list of motivation books, which the client can read.

Value – Belief Pattern

This mainly refers to the philosophical beliefs that guide the individual decisions made by the person or his perception of things in general. The philosophical beliefs determine what is correct, proper, meaningful, or good according to the individual (Weber, 2009).

1. Question: Are you a religious person?
2. Response: No. Religion is simply the exploitation of the masses by a few individuals.
3. Nursing interventions:
   1. Organize visits of the clergy to the client if he/she lives in a society that practices Christianity.
   2. Inform the client of the importance of religion

Conclusion

Gordon’s functional health pattern model of individual or community health assessment method focuses on the wellness of the individual. Assessment of the data obtained using the method of assessment, while factoring in certain issues such as cultural or social norms, age groups or the individual baselines would help in determining the general wellness of the individual.

Reference List

Daniels, R. & Daniels, R. (2004). Nursing fundamentals: caring & clinical decision-making. OH: Cengage Learning.

Edelman C.L. & Mandle, C.L. (2005). Health promotion throughout the life span. PA: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Stanhope, M. & Knollmueller, R.N. (2001). Handbook of public and community health nursing practice: a health promotion guide. PA: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Weber, J.R. (2009). Nurses’ Handbook of Health Assessment. Alphen aan den Rijn: Wolters Kluwer Health.