Nutritional and Metabolic Functional Health Pattern - Report Example

Running head: Health and Social Care Health and Social Care Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Nutritional and metabolic functional health pattern Normal findings of physical examination and health assessment for a person’s nutrition and metabolic health pattern Abnormal findings of physical examination and health assessment for a person’s nutrition and metabolic health pattern include all the expected conditions from a person suffering from nutritional problems. They include the deficiency fluid volume-both isotonic and hypertonic, ineffective breasting feeding, excessive fluid volume, imbalanced nutrition which can be over or under nutrition, impaired dentition, impaired skin integrity, impaired swallowing just to mention a few (Jarvis, 2008). Nutrition and metabolic functions is a topic which have been a subject of discussion for a long time. By definition, nutritional and metabolic pattern is the relationship that exists between the food intake of an individual and the amount of body requirement referred to as metabolic need. Metabolism refers to the set of chemical process and reactions that takes place in an organism for purposes of life maintenance. Food is one major thing that is essential for life of every organism and therefore the process of metabolism is important to convert the food into usable products by the body. The amount of food taken by an organism is equivalent to its metabolic rate (Edelman and Mandle, 2005). Having been a Personal Care Worker in an aged care nursing home for about five years, a lot of experiences has been gained in relation to nutrition and metabolism of the aged. In the course of the working there I happened to gain a basic knowledge of the nervous system and the relation that exists between the system and the five senses. This includes the tasting, the touch, the tasting the smelling and the hearing senses. I also gained experience where I realized that h reflexes are part of the nervous system as well as the principles behind the reflex actions (Gordon, 1994). It is also from my previous working experience that I was in a position to know what a subjective data is. This was made possible through the assignments that I was charged with to undertake. Such included the counseling to the clients who had experiences about incidences of domestic violence which they narrated. These widen my scope as I tried to formulate their experiences and then trying to decide their mode of survival by coping with those conditions. The counseling provided another plat form through which I could gather objective data through the consolidation of the story telling process as well as observation of their body languages, their style of communication, the patterns of their speeches and their grasp of the situations (Jarvis, 2008). Having been in the health professional I would have expected to gain experiences on the way medical practices are done and may be become one of the professionals in diagnoses in the health sector. Contrary to that I realized that most of the experiences I gained focused mainly on the effective communication and extraction of information from people. The knowledge gained through formal university sessions The knowledge gained through lectures has made me aware of the assessment and metabolic patterns within an individual. I realized that the nutrition is comprised of three statuses namely the optimal which is just sufficient for body functions, the over or under nutrients. Prior to the lecture sessions I dint now the importance of the nutrition assessment which I now understand very well (Gordon, 1994). The lectures also created some awareness about the most vulnerable groups to nutrition disparities. They include the infants the adolescent the pregnant and the aged persons. Further more the lectures revealed to me that there re different environmental factors which affect the nutrition. The factors include the food accessibility, low income, hospitalization, immigrations, illness and drug consumptions. The lectures revealed that to me that one of the major issues in the nutrition is the over nutrition which results to obesity. This acts as the starting point of problems such as heart attack and diabetes mellitus. One of the greatest realizations included components and steps of the nutrition assessment they include the nutrition screening by observation, weight, diet and appetite changes. It also comprises of objective data, illness, recent surgeries, vomiting, allergies, nutrients supplements and drugs (Jarvis, 2008). More component of nutrition assessment is the anthropometric measures and laboratory tests. The biventricular disease of the colon was an area that I knew nothing about it but after the lectures I attained some basics concerning its various components. The manifestation of gastrointestinal dysfunction clinically was also discussed during the lectures and created awareness of the abdominal pain and its components. The health functional assessment that I conducted in my first semester was such a comprehensive one, in my own opinion, regarding the cognitive perpetual pattern. However it just caught me by surprise later when I realized that all the assessment that I conducted just reflects the overview of the whole concept and many more others remained (Fulton and Lyon, 2009). However, I have also managed to gather some information from other text books and tutorial notes which have added to my knowledge. The extra coverage has expanded my knowledge regarding the nutrition and metabolic patterns overview. Prior to this coverage I dint know about the extent of the nutrition system and metabolic patterns. It is after I went through them that I learned that the system is composed of two types of its subsystems which include the mechanical break down of food in the mouth and the absorption system. I will not go into discussion about this for now. As it unfolded to me the break down system comprises of the mouth which is responsible for disintegrating the food particles in to small pieces. The break down of food in the mouth is the most critical activity for the nutrition system which deteriorates as one becomes old. This is due to weakened jaws and even lack of tooth. The absorption system refers to the other part of the systems which extends from the stomach through the small and large intestines to the excretion. I learned of a certain section of the nutrition system that is commonly referred to as the ileum. It is an important section for final absorption of the remaining vitamins and other water soluble proteins. The metabolism in the aged is affected here as some nutrient go to waste due to weakened absorption (Gordon, 1994). Demonstration of extended learning For the extended learning that could help in realization of full objects I have reflected on the several journal in nutrition assessment and metabolic patterns. This does not put out other literatures which are also useful in extended learning like the introductory books in nutrition. According to one journal called the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, I found out that the rate at which the aged suffer nutrition and metabolic problems is very high comparatively. On a random study conducted to individual of over 65 years in a hospital, 39 % of them were found to have clinically protein energy malnutrition. The supplement percentage was attributed to other health conditions which are not nutritional based. This brings concern over the nutrition of the aged and call for protein, vitamins and energy supplements for the aged (Sri Avinashilingam Home Science College, 1968). The extended learning main objective was to know more about the nutrition assessment and metabolic patterns and the different assessment procedures and criteria. To quench this thirst I used various nutritional text books and internet sites. As per the extended studies I found out that there existed a very big gap between my perceptions of the nutrition assessment and metabolic pattern facts. It is after the extended studies that I established that there is not a single relation of the previous believes of the previous notion in nutrition and metabolism and what the studies revealed (Jarvis, 2008). The gap was also filled by more extended studies which made it clear that nutrition assessment is a process of procedures rather than actual treatment which affected the reaction functions of the body as opposed to the previously believed to be a problem of body based disorder. A nutrition assessment and metabolic procedure is a not a disease per see that affects the operations of the body system but a diagnoses process for bodily malfunction which is not limited to any part. It requires professionals for the treatment and not a mere health professional. In traditional days the nutritional disparities were treated as physical problems. Reflection of the learning process The studies revealed more than I expected and widened my scope of the operations and functions of the body. What surprised me most was the fact that I thought that I new to some extent about the nutrition system but on the contrarily I found there is more to learn about the assessment and metabolism system leave alone the body system which is very large. However to get to my objective as a professional nutritionist I found out that there is more to be done than what it is in the mind. This will include the reflection of the skills learned and regular revision on them. To supplement this I will also require reading more text books in additional to tutorial notes and complete my homework diligently. It also calls for full time dedications where all the energy and time is dedicated to the study. I would also like to join with some of the organizations for the nutrition experts where I would dedicate to work with them voluntarily as I gather more knowledge on the nutrition assessment and metabolic patterns not only to the aged but also for the infants, adolescent and adults. Abnormal findings of physical examination and health assessment for a person’s nutrition and metabolic health pattern The abnormal findings about physical examination and health assessment for nutrition and health patterns involve the conditions which exhibits a different result which is out of the expected ones. This will include the health perception and health management problems, elimination patterns problems, activity exercise patter problems, sleep pattern disorder, cognitive perceptual pattern problems, self perception and concept patterns problems, role relationship pattern problems, sexuality productive problems and value- belief pattern problems (Jarvis, 2008). The experiences that I have gained from different other fields apart from neurological one impacted me with knowledge of different factor affecting the aged. it showed different effects compared to the nervous system. One major experience gained is the realization of the constant decline of the food intake as an individual advances in age. Generally the more active the cells in an organism are the more food intake is required to support the metabolic process. The reduction of food intake with the aged is attributed to the fact that as an individual grows old the cells experience fatigue and therefore not in a position to take many activities. The energy required is therefore low and thus low food intake and consequently low metabolic rate. Another experience with the aged is that they are more prone to nutritional problems as compared to the young people. Most of the nutritional disease, some previous research has indicated, has attracted concern over the way they are heating the aged. The high rate is being attributed to lack of taking some balanced diet either due to inability or unavailability. The fact that the cells in the old people don’t have enough strength to fight back some diseases makes the aged vulnerable to different diseases. Some of the old people that are encountered in the nursing home for the aged are too conservative that they even despise some advice from their medical advisers. The prescriptions and the recommendations that are given by the health care provider seem to result to futility. The aged should be provided with the nutrition busters depending on their condition and need (Fulton and Lyon, 2009). The knowledge gained through formal university sessions Some of the knowledge gained through formal university will include the realization of the aspects that results to abnormal findings. It is also through the lectures that I learned the development aspects for different nutritional needs such as for the elderly, adolescent, infants, adults and expectant mothers. To be considered as per the lectures are the Trans cultural aspects which influence nutrient. Some knowledge was also impacted by the lectures on the bowel elimination assessment. The factors affecting bowel elimination assessment as were revealed to me by the lectures includes the age, infection, diet, fluid intake, physical activities, psychological factors, personal habits, defection position, pain, pregnancy, medication, anti diarrhea agents, surgery and anesthesia and inflammatory disease. Demonstration of extended learning The knowledge need for bridging the gap between what I already know was closed through the use of various text books which elaborated greatly on the nutritional issues and health implication. The use of internet was also widely used and very resourceful as it gave extensive knowledge. As noted above there is more that need to be done because the studies revealed other factors that have never crossed my mind. It is through the studies that indicated the need to search for more literature material (Gordon, 1994). Reflection of the learning process The field of the study proved to be very wide and calls for more devotion (Jarvis, 2008). The wide range is caused by the fact that all other factors that are not considered abnormal happens to fall in this subject. Coverage of this scope therefore will require full time dedications and specialization as well. Reference: Edelman, C. and Mandle, C.(2005). Health promotion throughout the lifespan. Sydney: Elsevier Health Sciences Press. Estes, M.(2006). Health assessment and physical examination. Michigan: Thomson Delmar Learning Press Fuller, J. and Schaller-Ayers, J. (1994) Health assessment: a nursing approach. Michigan: J.B. Lippincott Press. Fulton, J. and Lyon, B.(2009) Foundations of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice. New York: Springer Publishing Company Gordon, M (1994) Functional Health patterns: a structure for assessment’ in nursing diagnosis: process and application, 3rd edition. Missouri: St Louis Press. Harris, P., Nagy, S and Vardaxis, N.(2010). Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions, 2nd edition Sydney: Elsevier Press Hally, B.(2008). A Guide for International Nursing Students in Australia and New Zealand Sydney: Elsevier Press. Jarvis, C. (2008). Physical Examination & Health Assessment. Sydney: Elsevier Press Sri Avinashilingam Home Science College (1968) Journal of nutrition and dietetics, Volume 5 New York: Sri Avinashilingam Home Science College Press Read More