The philosophy and practice integrate the assumption that health affects all the members of families and the fact that family and illness are family events. On top of that, families have an impact on the process as well as the outcome of healthcare. Therefore, the present paper will focus on the concept of approaches to family nursing by examining family as a context, client, system and component of the society.
Family as a Context
In this case, the family is in the background while the patient is in the foreground and therefore the family should be involved while providing care as they can participate. The community health nurse should make sure that members of the family are given roles in the care of their loved ones (Marklund, Eriksson, Lindh & Saveman, 2018).
One of the instances which I have experienced in my practice where the family had to be involved in the care of their loved ones is when a family member was diagnosed with a Tuberculosis bacterial infection. While tailoring therapy for this family member, we had to factor in the family since the medications were to be taken for more than 6 months owing to the resistant nature of the TB bacteria and one of the factors that lead to negative outcomes is non-adherence.
The family was given the role of making sure that the patient received the perfect nutrition. Consequently, we sought the help of the family to ensure that one of their family members takes the anti-TB medications as prescribed and he does not miss a dose. Every member of the family was involved to ensure that he takes the drugs on their watch.
Family as a Client
Master M was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. As a member of the medical team, we had to find ways of breaking the news to the family members. The role of the community health nurse involves treating family members and the patient as being at the forefront while offering care (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele & Robinson, 2018).
The mother was hypertensive and telling her that the son had cancer would have increased the blood pressure to the highest levels. Such an increase could have proved a challenge to manage. However, we managed to deliver the news and ensured that we had emergency medications such as hydralazine and amlodipine to lower blood pressure in case it shot to high levels. The father and the other siblings were utterly devastated to the extent that we had to get the help of counselors to aid them come to terms with the situation.
Family as a System
In this approach, the family is viewed as a system in which the whole unit is put into consideration rather than an individual. Therefore, the family and the individual become the primary target of a nursing intervention (Marklund, Eriksson, Lindh, & Saveman, 2018). We had a case in which Ms. L. R. was diagnosed with vaginal cancer and according to the family history information that was collected, the mother had been taking Diethyl Stillbestrol during the pregnancy period.
It was thought the diethylstilbestrol was responsible for the vaginal cancer affecting the only daughter of Mr. R and Mrs. F. The relationship between the two soured in the preceding months with the husband blaming the mother for their daughter’s grave illness. Therefore, we had to counsel the parents and inform them that the mother was not aware of the effects the drug could have on their unborn child. The daughter was also counseled so that she could “forgive” her mother. Hence, the relationship between family members improved.
Family as A Component of the Society
In this approach, the family is part of the larger community and therefore there is an interaction with other institutions within the community. The role of the community health nurse encompasses educating the community on disease prevention and treatment modalities (Dorell, Isaksson, Östlund, & Sundin, 2017).
For example, Mr. M is a person living with HIV/AIDS and he has benefited from the community’s interventions of sensitizing their members on adhering to the medications. The community also has set up clinics in which I happened to work in one of them. During this period, I used to help members of the community that developed complications from the medications such as the kidney injury health problems associated with Zidovudine.
The team in which a community health nurse was a member-focused on helping the patients getting alternative regimens. Therefore, the members of the community have helped with the de-stigmatization of the condition.
Conclusion
Offering care to clients using the family nursing approach plays an essential role in integrating the family unit. It is an undisputed fact that family should be considered as whole an
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