Obesity is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, and it’s a massive strain on the US healthcare system. The rate of childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with about 13.7 million adolescents and children considered obese in 2018. When interviewing a patient, it’s essential to include the individual’s body weight and height in your enquiries. This is especially true with paediatrics.
This is because height and weight measurements provide insight into the patient’s overall health and nutritional state. As an advanced practice nurse, ensure you use tools such as the Body Mass Index (BMI) and growth charts to monitor pediatric development and other health-related risks.
To ensure that your assessment is practical and valuable, you should familiarize yourself with test-specific factors that may affect the validity, reliability, and value of these tools. This week, you will explore various assessment tools and diagnostic tests used to derive information about a patient and learn the reliability and validity of each.
Several assessment tools and diagnostic tests can be used to identify a patient’s health condition. Different factors determine the validity and reliability of these tools. As a nurse, you must be aware of these factors to ensure you pick and choose the right tool and test for a specific patient.
Diagnostic tests such as body measurements also provide general information about a child’s nutrition and the health risks surrounding them. Other factors to consider include lifestyle, culture, and family history.
For this assignment, you will explore a number of assessment tools and assess their reliability and validity. You will also consider children of different weight measurements and devise effective ways to gather information on their health.
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