Nursing Strategies of Health Promotion

Nursing Strategies of Health Promotion

Introduction

Nurses are involved in various responsibilities over patients. This include consultation, follow up treatment, educating patients and also prevention of diseases. This is also a way of promoting health among patients. In the past, nurses were more focused on preventing diseases among patients. At the same time, they were focused on moulding the behaviors of patients subject to their illnesses. This has however changed as the role of nurses as health promoters continue to be more profound (Arnold & Boggs, 2019).

Nurses are currently presented with more complex matters which cannot overly rely on prevention and behavior change. Some diseases go deep into the families affecting them equally or causing depression among family members. As such, nurses are required to come up with more sophisticated ways of dealing with patients. This helps in improving the outcome among patients at the same time reducing causalities. At the same time, patients are equipped with methods on how to handle their conditions, thus making it more manageable for them. This makes health promotion a vital tool in nursing.

Despite there being challenges, nurses continue to work hard to improve their ways of promoting health. Chronic diseases have been known to require the most attention in terms of health promotion. This is because their effects are more severe compared to other forms of illnesses. One of the most common chronic diseases is asthma. Asthma is complex to handle. As such, patients must be equipped with a means of controlling the condition to help them cope appropriately (Marcus-Varwijk et al., 2018).

Asthma, however, becomes a challenge when it affects a child. In this case, their parents are faced with a challenging task of assisting them. It most cases, some parents end up depressed due to this condition. The depression is as a result of lack of better understanding on how to handle this condition. Promoting health among asthma patients is a way of assisting people to overcome the challenge (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). This is mainly for parents whose children have asthmatic conditions. Health promotion equips parents with ideas and information to help them cope and prevent their children from having asthmatic attacks. This can be achieved through various nursing strategies that will make it easy to reach out to the society effectively.

Strategies of Health Promotion among Asthmatic Children

Children are usually exposed to countless dangers, especially in school. As parents strive to provide better ways of managing asthma among their children, they still face a challenge. This is attributed to the fact that children are not always in their hands. Despite having an asthmatic condition, a child has to have a healthy life like others. This is achieved through involvement in school and activities inside and outside school (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). As such, the first nursing strategy to manage asthma among children through establishing schools with support systems for asthmatic kids. Most societies are still limited in terms of assisting asthmatic children (Marcus-Varwijk et al., 2018). This makes the efforts of parents with asthmatic kids futile as they try to keep their children safe. Having schools that support asthmatic children is a welcome move in society. It will be of assistance to both children and their families.

The second strategy is providing asthma awareness campaigns for parents, teachers and support staff. There is still a significant gap in terms of handling asthmatic children (Marcus-Varwijk et al., 2018). There are numerous situations whereby a child gets an asthmatic attack but fails to be assisted due to limited knowledge (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). Creating awareness through educative programs will help the involved stakeholders to stop relying on medical practitioners in handling asthmatic conditions. This will help in easy management of the

disease.

Knowing assisting asthmatic children is an effective way of handling the challenge. There are, however, asthma triggers that increase the chances of asthmatic attacks. This include dust, animal dander, weed pollen among others (Marcus-Varwijk et al., 2018). Proving awareness programs among parents and teachers will help in reducing exposure that leads to asthmatic attacks. They will be aware of what to avoid, thus making it safe for their children.

Application of Health Promotion among Asthmatic Children

Health promotion among asthmatic children can be applied in schools, homes and also playgrounds. Equipping parents with strategies for handling asthmatic conditions will help parents protect their children at home by eliminating asthmatic triggers (Arnold & Boggs, 2019). Health promotion for asthmatic children can be applied in school, whereby teachers are equipped with information on how to handle children who get asthmatic attacks (Marcus-Varwijk et al., 2018). This will equally be translated to playing ground whereby schools will provide safe playing grounds. At the same time, children will participate in healthy physical activities. This will make them more resistant to asthmatic attacks.

Conclusion

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases. It is hereditary and does not have a cure in most cases. As such, having the effective means of handling the illness is paramount in health promotion. Nurses are working hard in enlightening people on how to handle asthmatic attacks among people, not only children. This will help in reducing deaths and depression associated with asthma. It will also help in reducing asthma triggers, thus decreasing the number of casualties. This is an essential lesson to everyone in the society. This discussion has helped me learn that with sufficient knowledge, most health conditions can be managed effectively. This can be achieved through health promotion. As such, people must be part of nursing campaigns to equip them with knowledge of handling various diseases, not only asthma.

References

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Marcus-Varwijk, A. E., Peters, L., Visscher, T., Smits, C., Ranchor, A., & Slaets, J. (2018). Impact of a nurse-led health promotion intervention in an ageing population: Results from Community Health Consultation Offices for Seniors. International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC), 18.