Family Values Paper

862 Words4 Pages
Family Values Paper
Amanda Warbington
University of Phoenix
Instructor Tracy Kramer
Family Values Paper
From the time we are born, to the time we die, family is always present. A family traditionally consists of parents and children. However, in today’s society, a family can include people who are not blood relatives like friends or neighbors. In either case, a family is a unit of people who respect and care for one another. This paper discusses the importance of family and how the family unit relates to current nursing practice.
According to Friedman, Bowden, and Jones (2003), family plays a crucial role in the patient’s environment, and therefore is a major part of the patient’s support system ("Family Nursing: Focus, Evolution, and Goals"). While this statement greatly applies to families with children, it is also applicable to adults. The World Health Organization (2014) acknowledges that many factors determine the health of an individual: location of habitation, the state of a person’s environment, genetics, income and education level, and relationships with friends and family. Increased support from friends and family is proven to lead to better health for an individual. For this reason, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has developed a guide to promote patient and family engagement in the hospital setting. According to this guide, it is important for families to be advocates for their loved one. Also nurses need to keep lines of communication with patients and families open from the time of admission by keeping all parties informed of the patient’s plan of care.
Working on an orthopedic/surgical floor, it is easy to see how important family participation is to a patient’s care. Orem’s self-care theory is most often used in this setting. Orem’s theory states that “nursing care is required when an adult is unable to perform
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