Comprehensive Assessment of Individuals and Populations
Comprehensive Assessment of Individuals and Populations
INTRODUCTION
An advanced practice nurse (APN) must possess the knowledge and tools to promote a healthy and productive lifestyle. Comprehensive health assessments are conducted not just by APNs but by nurse leaders and nurse educators as well. Such comprehensive physical assessments provide a holistic view of an individual’s health. These assessments identify actual and potential health risks to individuals and populations.
Comprehensive Assessment of Individuals and Populations
These assessments are completed to help the patient, family, and community create appropriate interventions to aid the individual in reaching maximum functionality.
For this task, you will record yourself conducting a comprehensive health assessment on a family member or friend (do not use a patient in a healthcare setting) using the Panopto video recording system. To access Panopto, see the “Accessing Panopto” web link below. For instructions on how to use Panopto, refer to the “Panopto How-To Videos” web link below.
Comprehensive Assessment of Individuals and Populations
As part of the task requirements, you will submit your recording for evaluation. Your comprehensive health assessment should include a physical assessment, focused assessment, and review of social determinants of health. Additionally, you will be required to document this assessment, including the primary assessment findings, health history, and social determinants of health using the attached “Comprehensive Health Assessment Documentation Form.”
To prepare for this task, you will need to have equipment that includes a light source, a stethoscope, and a blood pressure cuff available and ready. If you are not able to acquire a blood pressure cuff, you may ask for the patient’s most recent blood pressure report. You should review the methods in your learning resources for conducting a health assessment in order to familiarize yourself with the compnents of a health assessment, focused assessment, and social determinants of health. As you review your learning resources, pay careful attention to assessment techniques and methods. You will be evaluated on proper technique as you perform the physical exam. You should practice conducting the assessment by referring to the attached “Comprehensive Health Assessment Techniques Evaluation Form.” This evaluation form will be used to evaluate your techniques in performing the health assessment in the recording that you will submit for this task.
Comprehensive Assessment of Individuals and Populations
Your patient must be an adult who has sufficient capacity to provide informed consent and is 18 years of age or older. Individuals from the following groups will not have the ability to provide informed consent: minors, cognitively impaired persons regardless of age, and wards of the state—with the exception of emancipated minors. If you have further questions regarding your choice of a patient, please consult your course mentor. Before you begin recording your assessment for submission, please have the friend or family member, who is acting as your patient, complete and sign both the attached “Nursing Program Audio/Video Recording Consent and Release Agreement (Patient),” and the attached “Nursing Program Audio/Video Recording Consent and Release Agreement (Student).” Submit both forms as part of this task. An electronic signature is acceptable for the student’s consent and release form (i.e., a typed name on the appropriate signature line). However, the patient’s signature must be handwritten. Once the consent form is signed by the patient, it can be either scanned or photographed, and the resulting file should be uploaded as a JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, or any other image file format.
Instruct your friend or family member, who is acting as your patient, to dress in shorts and a tank top so evaluators can see you performing the correct assessment techniques. Be sure to speak clearly and perform all of the required skills listed on the attached “Comprehensive Health Assessment Techniques Evaluation Form.”
Note: For Instructions on how to access and use Panopto, use the “Panopto How-To Videos” web link provided below. To access Panopto’s website, navigate to the web link titled “Panopto Access” and then choose to log in using the “WGU” option. If prompted, log in using your WGU student portal credentials, and then it will forward you to Panopto’s website.
To submit your recording, upload it to the Panopto drop box titled “Comprehensive Advanced Nursing Field Experience.” Once the recording has been uploaded and processed in Panopto’s system, retrieve the URL of the recording from Panopto and copy and paste it into the Links option. Upload the remaining task requirements using the Attachments option.
Note: This comprehensive health assessment must be a new patient assessment. The reuse of undergraduate work for this course will not be accepted.
SCENARIO
You are a nursing student completing a service learning assignment in a primary care establishment. As part of your duties, you will perform a comprehensive health assessment on a patient who is establishing new care.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. An originality report is provided when you submit your task that can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Note: To complete this task, you will need to acquire a light source and a stethoscope. You will need to be able to assess your patient’s blood pressure using a blood pressure cuff. If a B/P cuff is not available, ask your patient’s last reported blood pressure.
- Include two completed copies (name, address, phone, date, and signature) of the attached “Nursing Program Audio/Video Recording Consent and Release Agreement,” one for yourself and one for the friend/family member acting as your patient for this assessment.
Note: To ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations, do not use a patient in a healthcare setting for this assessment.
- Record yourself completing a comprehensive health assessment using the Panopto system by doing the following:
- Demonstrate the correct assessment techniques for each assessment item listed in the attached “Comprehensive Health Assessment Techniques Evaluation Form.”
- Include a functional URL/link for your Panopto recording, and ensure a clear audible verbalization of each step in the assessment process along with the findings.
Note: Check that the assessment is captured in the video. If you report a finding on your documentation, make sure it is represented in the video submission. Save your recording using your first and last name, student ID, and course code.
- Include a completed copy of the attached “Comprehensive Health Assessment Documentation Form.”
Note: To complete the “Comprehensive Health Assessment Documentation Form,” you must submit a response for each area on the form. Please document what was seen, heard, felt, assessed, and/or measured for each area assessed. The form will be considered incomplete if any areas are left blank.
- Analyze (suggested length of 1 page) the primary findings of the comprehensive health assessment you performed.
- Identify lab tests that should be ordered based on your assessment findings.
- Justify your response from part D1.
Note: If no lab tests are indicated in part D1, justify your reasoning.
- Analyze the differences between a comprehensive health assessment and a physical health assessment.
- Acknowledge sources, using APA- formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
- Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
