Family Is Important

Family Health Nursing: Family is Important

Family Health Nursing is an important part of healthcare. Family support is key to the patient's healing. "The family influences the development of the [patient's] success or failure of that [patient's] life." (Friedman, Bowden, and Jones, 2003) The family has become an important part of the Ð''puzzle' for doctors and nurses when caring for a patient. It is important to assess both the patient and the family for their level of understanding and ability to take care of the patient. After discharge, the family is usually the one that needs to care for the patient; the nurse needs to be convinced that the family can handle that.

The family is an important focus for nurses because of the amount of information that can be shared about the patient. The Ð''family' health standards strongly influence Ð''individual' health practices. This causes the Ð''family' to become the focus of a nurses care rather than that of an Ð''individual'. The mother and father have instilled ways to care for illnesses and injuries that have become the Ð''norm' for the family. It is imperative to the nurse to know how the family functions and if the care of the patient will be accepted by the family. Does the family communicate? Are their rules and limits for the children to teach them right from wrong? What is the level of education or understanding of the illness at hand? Will the family be able to financially support the care that is needed? A family works out conflicts and talks openly. Arguing may even be seen in a family to manage their differences. This is accepted in families, to an extent, by keeping the lines of communication open and allowing the opinions of other members in the family. (Scheingold, 2006)

The nurse will find out some of the important aspects of the family to assist in the care of the patient. The family will be able to share information about medical history, medications, and allergies. It would also be imperative for the family to share more information about the illness or injury at hand. They may have seen other signs or symptoms that the patient is unaware of. Developing a good rapport with the family is just as important as it is to have a good rapport with the patient. The family will trust the nurse more if the lines of communication between the family and nurse are kept open.

Families have changed over the years in many ways. Today families have longer life spans, an increase of woman in the workforce, safer birth control methods, and divorce rates have increased. (Fraser, 2000) These changes have been brought about by society itself and by financial influences. Today it is not possible to have only one "bread winner" in the house with the rising cost of raising a child, sending them to college, and preparing for retirement. With the changes forced upon families by our ever-changing world of technology, it has made it difficult for families to live with only one income. Society has seen our lifestyles go from easy going, relaxed and comfortable to stressed, fast-paced and on edge.

A family today does not necessarily mean that of a mother, father and children (typical family). "Families are a collection of individuals of differing needs and concerns living in complicated relationships with each other and with society." (2000) A family consists of a domestic group of people typically affiliated by birth or marriage. (Wikipedia, 2006) In today's society and the ever-changing ways we have become accustomed to a Ð''family' consists of the typical family, the single parent family, and the lesbian or gay couple family.

In the healthcare field it is important not to judge anyone for the decisions one has chosen and how they live their lives. Whether they live alone and do not have a Ð''family' but have a loved one that is close to them and is considered family. There have been situations where someone who does not have a family and the one person that is closest to them, they