The home visit activity targeted an unknown family. In this paper, they will be referred to as Mr. and Mrs. John. This family lives in New York City, America with their two children.
Pre-visit plan
Get in touch with the family – This is by initiating information contact.
Establish the main objective of the visit – This is by briefing the family, via making phone calls about the purpose of the visit.
Establish the willingness of the family to participate – This is by asking the family about their view of the visit.
Schedule a home visit – This entails setting a convenient date, location, and time for a home visit. Above all, this includes determining the safety of the location and availability of means of transport to their home.
Analyze the family history – This entails conducting research about the background of the family.
Summary
Introduction
Upon arriving at Mr. and Mrs. John’s premises, I introduced myself as a practicing nurse and where I was stationed. I made clear my intentions of visiting them and they welcomed me well. During the introductory process, I made sure that I interacted socially with the family. Above all, this targeted creating a significant room for assessing the family’s neighborhood and societal lifestyle. In addition, I presented my role in the interview, tasks, and confines.
Hygiene
During the assessment, I ensured that I maintain high levels of hygiene. This entailed washing my hands with warm soapy water before eating food. I helped them in washing fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. I found out about their water and learned that it was safe for drinking when boiled. I also advised them about the value of washing hands before eating for the entire family and the children, in particular. Given the nature of their immediate environment where factories and industries exist, I advised them on the dangers of eating food planted within that area. Finally, I advised the family on the importance of washing bottles, food containers, and toys before handing them to infants.
My Expectations
I anticipated that the family will fail to open up especially on topics that may mean unraveling private aspects of their life. For example, medical history, income level, challenges that they incur in their life, family relationships, and any known psychosocial or psychological problems in their children or themselves. However, this family was willing to let me ask them any question and further managed to participate fully without any problem. In this regard, I was in a position to ask more questions and even get a better chance of understanding their problems. A social family helps to visit nurses in creating a great plan and intervention programs for their problems (Clark, 2008).
Family’s Expectations
According to Finfgeld-Connett (2008), every home visit activity must spur the family’s expectations. It was apparent that the family was anticipating that the meeting would be extremely formal. It is apparent that, at the start of the interview and when making the first calls, I maintained a formal tone. However, this changed after we became more acquainted with one another.
Findings
During my assessment, I found that the family lives close to busy factories. It was vivid that some of these factories polluted the air by visible dark smoke, I saw, coming out of the chimneys. I also noticed that their first-born son had a psychosocial problem. Their son was suffering from Bulimia Nervosa. Bulimia is a critical eating disorder associated with a series of overindulgence and counterbalancing actions, for example, self-stimulated vomiting. These actions are triggered as an attempt to undo or counterbalance possible outcomes of over-eating and being overweight (Gidwani, & Rome, 1997). Above all, I found that John was taking stabilizers given that he was recuperating from depression after he lost his job. It was apparent that John’s wife was the sole breadwinner of the family as she works as a high school teacher in a neighboring school. Despite their insufficient income, they manage to eat healthy food on a daily basis.
Distractions
The main distraction during the assessment was the enduring noise from the factories nearby. However, I realized that the family had become accustomed to it, and soon after our conversations started, I forgot about it. On the other hand, we had to stop the meeting for a while when a neighbor paid a visit. However, this did not take long as the neighbor left minutes after and we managed to proceed.
Plans left for the family
After completing the assessment, I left the family with plans for their wellbeing. I advised them on how they will live happily as a family. Finally, I advised them to manage their expenditure on the subject of primary and secondary needs.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary interventions
I provided the family with primary interventions that entail ensuring that they take good care of their children especially their son who is struggling with Bulimia Nervosa. I informed them about the importance of taking their children for vaccinations and frequent medical checkups. On the secondary intervention, I advise them on the value of identifying a risk group, for example, peer pressure in teenagers. Finally, the tertiary intervention entailed creating a possible solution for the affected group (Fitzgerald, 2011). For example, I advised John to visit seminars to learn about how to overcome depression. Their son needs help from the family to overcome the psychosocial problem.
Time of the visit
The home visit lasted for one hour. Every home visit activity requires approximately 45-60 minutes (Duffield, Gardner & Cartling-Paull, 2008).
Healthy practices
I advised the family to consider going for frequent medical checkups to improve their wellbeing. I informed them of the need to maintain high hygiene levels, from eating clean food and drinking clean water.
Evaluation
This home visit activity was successful. This is evident after accomplishing what I wanted to do, which was to obtain enough information about the family, in order to provide a solution to their problems. The family presented a psychosocial problem of their son, something that I did not expect. Above all, I was prepared for the visit, which made the assessment turn out successful.
References
Clark, M. J. (2008). Care of clients in the home setting. In Community health nursing. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Duffield, C., Gardner, G. & Cartling-Paull, C. (2008). Nursing work and the use of nursing time. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(1), 3269-3274.
Finfgeld–Connett, D. (2008). Meta–synthesis of caring in nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(2), 196–204.
Fitzgerald, M. A. (2011). Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention: Important in Certification and Practice. Web.
Gidwani, G. P. & Rome, E. S. (1997). Eating Disorders. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 40(3), 601-615.