Health is paramount to the productivity of an individual. At the macro level, the health of the citizens determines the economic growth of a nation. There is vast information available on the Internet about the activities that promote the health of the individual. The Practical nurse acts as an intermediary in disseminating this information to the public. Nurses serve a clientele made of different people. These classes of people have varied health needs that the nurse must understand. The health needs of children differ from those of diabetic patients as well as those of the elderly.
Health Promotion Websites
Medline Plus: Childrens Health
This website explores several school-going childrens health needs. The website summarizes the health needs of children as mental, physical and social. It advises the parents to ensure a proper diet for their children and promote adequate sleep. It also points out some ill-health indicators that parents should look for in their children. These indicators are significant weight loss or gain, sleep disturbances, behavioral change, fever, skin rashes, sore throat, and breathing problems (Medline Plus, 2017).
NCBI: Physical Activity for Diabetic patients
An article that appears on this website argues that health promotion using physical exercise is a cheap and effective method of ensuring the well-being of patients with diabetes and renal problems. The authors discuss the importance of physical inactivity in exacerbating the symptoms of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cite it as a significant contributor to the development and poor prognosis of this disease. The authors also posit that nurses are very critical in promoting the health of diabetic patients (Pham & Ziegert, 2016).
Medscape: Health Promotion in Adults Over 65 Years
This website provides useful information for nurse practitioners caring for the elderly. The author argues that a combination of preventive and curative strategies is important for people in this group since old age predisposes them to myriad diseases. One of the suggestions that the author gives is a yearly mammogram for women over 85 years (Richardson, 2006).
Relevance to the LPN
A practical nurse is likely to receive children presented to a facility with symptoms identified in the article on Medline Plus. Therefore, they should be able to take necessary measures like referral of children that need specialized care to the relevant doctors. In the case of diabetic patients, the practical nurse should grasp the methods of performing physical exercises that are effective for these patients. As identified in NBCI, nurses should create a harmonious relationship with diabetic patients in a move to encourage them to undertake physical exercises. Since practical nurses are caregivers for senile people, they should offer cancer screening for both male and female geriatric patients according to the recommendations by Medscape.
Health Promotion in LPN Practice
The material provided on the Internet will help a nurse in identifying signs of ill health in children, for example, weight gain and take the appropriate action like referral of the patient to a pediatrician. The articles on the website also help a nurse to adopt non-chemotherapeutic procedures that promote the well-being of diabetic patients like physical exercising. Finally, the information will also help a nurse to take disease preventive actions in geriatric patients like regular cancer screening.
In conclusion, the Internet is the best storage medium for information that can help nurses to perfect their work in health promotion. Depending on the category of patients they are handling, a nurse should make informed decisions to prevent diseases and promote the well-being of the patients.
References
Medline Plus (2017, December). Childrens health. Retrieved https://medlineplus.gov/childrenshealth.html on 17/12/2017
Pham, L., & Ziegert, K. (2016). Ways of promoting health to patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease from a nursing perspective in Vietnam: A phenomenographic study. International Journal of Qualitative Studies On Health And Well-Being, 11(1), 30722.
Richardson, J. P. (2006). Considerations for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Older Adults. Retrieved https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/531942#vp_2 on 17/12/2017
References
Again use APA formatting to record the references. If you list it as a reference it must be cited somewhere in the paper.
Smith, J., Jones M., A., Brown, T., (2013). The amazing text of all things nursing (4th ed). Boston, MA, Mosby Inc.
(References have all lines after the first one indented.)
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