FOCUSED ASSESSMENT

        Assessments form the key components of nursing practice. Assessments are necessary for the provision of family and patient -centered care and planning care. A focused assessment is one which a nurse examines a specific body part that represent the main clinical problem or the current concern of a patient. The focus assessment can involve a single part of the body system. For a complete or comprehensive assessment involves looking at the patient history, physical examination, general appearance, and vital signs at the time a patient visits to the hospital. Complete assessment relies on the methodical evaluation premise of older individuals carried out by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals. They will discover various treatable health issues and help in directing towards the right health outcomes. Referrals by a caring clinician initiate the comprehensive assessment. The complete assessment will cover elements such as lifestyle, changes in living situations, age, psychological disorders, medical comorbidities and anticipated or earlier utilization of health care (Fraser Health, 2005).

              The focused chart review provides contextual information on recently documented subjective and objective data, intervention changes such as medication and recent lab tests results on electrolytes and blood count. However, for the complete assessment the patient charting records shows reports about the overall condition of a patient from the assessment. The nurse can use the findings in the focused chart to compare with the complete survey chart findings. The nurses can note down a particular interaction, activity, color, general signs, distress, discomfort and position of the patient. The similarity with the complete charting and the focused charting is that they are both continuous and dynamic processes of verifying, collecting, and organizing the patient information in a specific context (Jarvis, 2004).

Reference

Fraser Health. (2005). Medical Nursing Assessment and Flow Sheet. Burnaby, BC: Author

Jarvis, C. (2004). Physical examination and health assessment. (4th ed.). United States: Saunders.

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