Personal Perceptions of Health
Health is a state of complete mental, social, and physical wellbeing. Mental health involves the welfare of an individual's emotions, the psychological aspects. Social health includes a person's ability to mingle and interact with the rest of society's members. Physical health is the most analyzed sector of wellbeing in our healthcare provision systems. Most of our cultural beliefs and ideologies have led us to believe that physical health is more important than both psychological and social health ( Charlier et al., 2017 ). An individual with perfect physical health has the body processes and functions working correctly, not necessarily because of lack of diseases, but also as a result of intake of a balanced diet, regular physical exercise, and enough rest.
A Patient's Perception of Health
I approached one of my patients and asked him to describe his understanding of health. According to him, the health status of a person is the relative level of illness and wellness, putting into consideration the existence of symptoms and physical dysfunctions. The patient further explains that health status depends on how a person views himself. Some individuals brand themselves healthy, even when suffering from illnesses, while others consider themselves as unhealthy, without any proper evidence of a health problem. People should, therefore, be allowed the freedom to make decisions about their health statuses and seek medical attention at their pleasure.
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Comparison
My perception has some similarities with the understanding of the patient, judging from the above information. According to my knowledge, health is a state of wellbeing, while the patient explains that health status is determined by the degree of illness. I am afraid, however, have to disagree with the patient in some of his viewpoints. For instance, I cannot entirely agree with the claim that the health status of an individual depends entirely on the personal view of a person. On an average number of occasions, patients are brought into hospitals for treatment with their friends and family members, who notice the adverse signs and symptoms displayed by the patients. The patients are not given a platform to decide whether to be taken to a hospital or not. Therefore, choosing health status cannot entirely depend on an individual as discussed by the patient, to promote adequate care provision within appropriate periods.
A Comprehensive Health Assessment provides nurses with insight into the patients' physical status by observing, measurement of the vital signs and reported symptoms. The health assessment can further include medical history, a physical test, and a general survey. The general patient survey involves the height, weight, age, ad sometimes the hygiene of an individual ( Devita et al., 2019 ). Nurses make use of the applied health assessment techniques to formulate a positive relationship by creating a rapport with the patient, which results in a trusted relationship.
A comprehensive Health Assessment provides healthcare providers with sufficient medical information that can enable the application of the most effective treatment procedures. The process brings out all the healthcare facts about the patient, including the allergic reactions, already applied treatment procedures, the manifesting signs and symptoms, and the most effective interventions. Quality patient care also results from comprehensive health assessment since the applied medical intervention is usually clearly thought through, and the care providers are sure of a positive outcome ( Wang et al., 2019 ). A comprehensive health assessment enables proper analysis of therapeutic interventions, before implementation to eliminate the possibility of trial and error in treatment. The most significant importance of the Comprehensive Health Assessment is that, after proper research and analysis of a patient's condition, the applied healthcare solution is precise, resulting in the most efficient outcomes.
References
Charlier, P., Coppens, Y., Malaurie, J., Brun, L., Kepanga, M., Hoang-Opermann, V., ... & Deo, S. (2017). A new definition of health? An open letter of autochthonous peoples and medical anthropologists to the WHO. European journal of internal medicine , 37 , 33-37.
Devita, M., Mondini, S., Bordignon, A., Sergi, G., Girardi, A., Manzato, E., ... & Coin, A. (2019). The importance of cognitive reserve in comprehensive geriatric assessment for dementia. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research , 1-3.
Wang, S., Zhang, Q., Yang, T., Zhang, L., Li, X., & Chen, J. (2019). River health assessment: Proposing a comprehensive model based on physical habitat, chemical condition and biotic structure. Ecological indicators , 103 , 446-460.
