Exploring the assessment process

Abstract

Assessment is a fundamental nursing skill that underpins decisions about interventions and priorities in care delivery. Rather than the holistic, individualised approach envisaged in the nursing process, nursing assessment of the sick child in hospital appears to focus mainly on quantitative data and preventing clinical failures. In this article, Carper's (1978) four 'patterns of knowing in nursing' are used to illustrate how assessment could be broadened to better inform nurses' decision making and to make child and family-centred care more of a reality.

The nursing assessment of infants with bronchiolitis

“…A variety of information was used to inform the assessment, demonstrating a complex and holistic process that extended beyond pure physical assessment and incorporated an important partnership with parents. These findings are in contrast to previous suggestions that the nursing assessment of infants and children concentrates heavily on the collection of quantitative data (Broom, 2007).…”

Time to learn: understanding patient-centred care

“…The ability to care for the patient as a whole person is considered the essence of good healthcare practice in PCC (Kitson, 1999). Determining, planning and prioritizing the care required by the patient and family are the main activities through which this can be achieved (Broom, 2007). The ability to focus on significant events, conditions or situations affacting the patient are other important skills which enable the health professional to deliver personalized care.…”