Running head: SENIOR HEALTH PROMOTION PROJECT 1

Senior Health Promotion Project

Samantha Moussari

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4113

September 6, 2017

Honor Code “I pledge..”

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Senior Health Promotion Project

Background

The client, Aicha, is a 76-year-old Moroccan woman who believes in clinical healing but

focuses more on spirituality. Aicha lives in Morocco but travels to America and stays months at

a time with her daughter. She does not have a job, so traveling for her is flexible. This client has

five children, all whom provide for her the means to live. Her day consists of going to the

market, caring for animals (chickens or rabbits), and picking up around the house. A detail that

needs to be recognized and worked with for this client is her illiteracy. For this reason, the client

is educated through videos and verbal communication. Healthy People 2020, explains that there

are many online tools for educational and easy access but this client is limited to these things

because of her resources and illiteracy. She communicates verbally. Aicha has no hearing or

speech issues, although she does require glasses to see. This client is religious so when possible

working with female health care providers is more comfortable.

Environmentally, this client is very comfortable. She explains that she is free to do what

she wants and makes her own decisions. Although this is true, she expresses that her children do

try to encourage her to be more physically active. According to Healthy People 2020, physical

activity does assist in decreasing the risk for cardiac disease. She is encouraged to keep moving

because she does not have a job so it is easy for her to fall into a slump. She has high cholesterol

and high blood pressure. She doesn’t have a health care provider and only takes one drug that she

buys over the counter (fish oil). According to Healthy People 2020, healthcare providers can

educate patients on monitoring interventions for blood pressure enhancing treatment decisions.

Most remedies are home remedies. Additionally, Healthy People 2020 expresses that one to one

patient counseling enhances adherence. For example, to help with a cold one simply drinks
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honey and lemon in their tea. Although this client does not follow rules by a healthcare provider,

she does have a great diet of homemade meals with many vegetables.

Nursing diagnosis

This client suffers from high blood pressure but has not been educated about what the

risks are. Aicha has not been educated because she does not report to a healthcare provider. For

this reason, I chose the following nursing diagnosis: deficient knowledge related to lack of

knowledge as evidence by unaware of issue. This is an important diagnosis because step one in

healthcare is educating a client about their problems. A short-term outcome for this client is to

verbalize back an understanding of the disease process by 4pm after education has been given.

An anticipated long-term outcome for this client is for her blood pressure to decrease one month

from the last visit with me.

Interventions

The teaching plan was all given through verbal communication in Moroccan/Arabic

because Aicha cannot read or write. The objective for the teaching plan was to encourage a

healthier lifestyle for Aicha because the client’s blood pressure isn’t elevated enough to need

medical treatment (drugs). Although the client would benefit from seeing a health care provider,

given her recourses a substantial goal would be for her to reduce it by utilizing primary

preventions. My teaching plan was solely an auditory teaching plan. I was able to use the client’s

daughter to break down a medical understanding of the pathophysiology of her diagnosis. I

believe that the client will be more likely to comply if she understands the reason for it. At this

time, I made it a goal for Aicha to be able to explain back to me what she understands about her
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health care issue. By 4pm after the education was given, the client was able to explain back to

me her correct understanding of what blood pressure is and how it can be harmful.

The second intervention was aimed at reaching the long-term goal for Aicha. I did this by

having the client watch an appropriate video on how she can help decrease her blood pressure. A

video was used because it was appropriate for her auditory learning style. This video discussed

eating less sodium, proper food groups, keeping active, losing weight, and reducing stress.

According to the article “Effectiveness of an Intervention Program for the Management of

Hypertension through Strengthening of the Health Care Delivery System: a pilot study,” the

video that was provided for Aicha to watch covered the essentials for decreasing blood pressure.

The article explains that dietary modification and physical exercise have the most optimal

outcome. These interventions and goals are appropriate for Aicha because her socioeconomic

status does not permit her to go to the doctor annually. The goal is for Aicha’s blood pressure to

decrease 1 month after teaching. I included the daughter in the education process about the need

for Aicha’s necessary diet and physical activity change. I anticipate a change will be made.

Evaluation

Primary nursing outcomes that were included for this client are healthy eating and

physical activity. Secondary outcomes are screening for blood pressure. Tertiary outcomes are

for the client to meet with a health care provider. I believe my teaching methods were well

accommodating for the patients learning style. Throughout the teaching plan the client responded

positively by saying “in Gods willing my daughter” and “in Gods willing things will get better.”

Although I do feel that I had a positive impression on the client’s healthcare, I could have better

educated the patient’s daughter. For example, I could encourage the daughter to buy an

automatic blood pressure cuff and encourage her to document the patient’s daily blood pressure.
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Summary

This project made me feel like I was practicing as a real nurse. Being the educator made

me realize the responsibility that I was withholding. This patient was taking what I was saying

seriously and putting her health care future into my hands. This project taught me how to alter

education for cultural and educational purposes. This teaching project was truly beneficial for

my client and myself.

References

Hypertension: Primary prevention, screening and routine monitoring. (2014). Practice Nurse,

44(12). 38-39

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2017). Healthy People 2020. Retrieved

from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/tools-resources/evidence-based-

resource/cardiovascular-disease-self-measured-blood-pressure

Qidwal, W,m Kazmi, N., Nanji, K., & Anees, S. (2016). Effectiveness of an Intervention

Program for the Management of Hypertension through Strengthening of the Health Care

Delivery System: a Pilot Study. Middle East Journal Of Internal Medicine, 9(2), 3-11.

World Health Organization. (2017). Cardiovascular Disease. Retrieved from

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/