The Importance Of Family Health Nursing

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Family health nursing is the nucleus of any nursing practice. It is utilized in all aspects of healthcare. Health and illnesses affect the family as a whole. It is a major family event when one or more of the family members are involved with a medical problem. This affects the health of the individual members and vice versa. Support for the family is just as important as it is for the patient. Health care effectiveness is improved when emphasis is placed on the family. A nurse plays a critical role with the interventions of family health care. Promotion, maintenance and restoration of the health of families are important to the survival of society.
Social and economic challenges have led to the decline of the human family and have …show more content…

Alzheimer’s disease is a major one. Currently there is no cure; medical treatments are limited but evolving with research. These remedies slow the worsening of the symptoms and improve the patient’s quality of life. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States (http://www.alz.org, n.d., para. 3). Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s can be a journey that is long, stressful, emotional and isolating. About 15 million people in the United States are caring for a person with this disease (http://www.helpguide.org, n.d.). Many people face challenges and fears similar to the documentary video, The Alzheimer’s Project: Caregivers. It can be very straining on the lives of the caretaker’s family. Marriages and relationships take a toll. The burden of caregiving increases the risk for significant health problems including high blood pressure, diabetes and a compromised immune system. Sadness, anxiety, loneliness and exhaustion are often experienced by the caregiver. I have not undergone the role of caretaker for an Alzheimer’s person. My occurrence was visiting a family member that had a progressive but relatively short bout with this disease. Due to an injury sustained during a fall from a wandering episode, my mother-in-law was put into a facility to manage her care. My father-in-law was unable to care for her and the rest of the family had professional lives and chose not to be the primary caretaker. Although, I noticed the family still endured the same emotional impacts of a caregiver but they did not the encounter any of the significant health

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