Steve’s Needs as a student

Steve is a 20 year old male student; he lives away from home as he is in his final year at university. Steve lives in student accommodation with 6 other male students. The area he lives in is deprived of the city and the local housing is poor quality. There are busy roads and factories surrounding the area he lives in. He smokes up to 120 cigarettes per week and binge drinks a lot. He doesn't exercise at all and he eats unhealthily. Steve's housing is very dirty and messy therefore causing a lot of dust. This is affecting his asthma. Steve's Needs Steve has many needs to improve his PIES. Firstly for his physical health he should stop drinking so much as it will be affecting his liver. Also he should stop eating so unhealthy and get on a healthy diet and start to exercise regularly. He should also use the exercise as well as to get fit to loose weight so he is at a healthy BMI. For his emotional health he should make sure that he stays motivated to loose weight and drink less alcohol and smoke less and eventually quit. He should keep self-confidence in himself that he can loose weight and that he will look much better in the long run after all his hard work.Dying of Breast Cancer in the 1800s Lastly for emotional health he should have support from people in order to help him loose weight and get healthier. People offering him support should be his friends, family and the nurse and doctors who are helping him. These could include the dietician and the community nurse. For Steve's intellectual health he should make sure he concentrates more at university, in order to achieve a high standing grade. Also he should make sure that he gets educated on the risks of what he is doing to himself as he needs to realise what he is really doing to damage his body. Lastly for Steve's social health needs he needs to reassess his social life and stop going out more and maybe even find more supportive friends rather than people who find it funny that he gets into a complete state. Also he should take up a hobby in order to keep himself busy rather than turning to alcohol and causing himself harm. Steve should also think about how he spends his money and that he should stop spending it on alcohol and cigarettes and he should use it in a more useful way such as joining a gym or towards a hobby he may want to take up. Steve should also make sure his housing environment is clean as it is affecting his health as it is very unhygienic. Community Nurse Lisa is a community nurse. She is helping Steve to get healthier and giving him advice on how he can loose weight and get healthier. Roles Lisa works within the community but she is based in a doctor's surgery. A community nurse acts as a teacher and counsellor primarily, but also plays an important role in preventing widespread illness and disease in the community she serves. Lisa offers a supportive role; she supports patients as well as other professionals. She does visits to schools, GPs and home visits in order to spread awareness of illness disease and also to support people in any health issues they may have. Lisa is part of the PCT (primary care trust). She offers general health care to patients and she gives out general advice. The main roles that Lisa undertakes are monitoring people's health, providing nursing care to the sick and disabled, she is also a health teacher letting the community she serves in know about health risks and what you can do to prevent them. Also she is a councillor; giving an appropriate advice and broadening a client's insight about a problem so that appropriate decisions are made which can lead to a positive resolution of the problem. Tasks One of the tasks Lisa may undertake is screening tests to find out about their health such as she could look at the height, weight, BMI and blood pressure of Steve. Also she could do tests on Steve for his cholesterol levels and test their lung functions. These screening tests can help to promote good health. This is because if there is an issue involving the Steve's health then doing one of these screening tests Lisa may be able to notice the problem and then look at it in more detail. If the problem is noticed soon enough then Lisa will be able to inform Steve of what it is and help him sort the problem out and recommend him to a doctor or advise him on what he can do in order to retain a healthy state. Also a task Lisa may do as a community nurse is educating the community. She may give out education and advice on certain issues patients may have. These could include pregnancies, exercise, drinking, smoking, diet and contraception. A community nurse can also provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions. However if Lisa thinks that the patient needs more than just her advice such as Steve may need to see a dietician in order to plan out a healthy lifestyle and diet she may advise him to go see the specialist person as she may not be able to help him as much as the dietician can. She may also advise the patient to go to a specialist support group. Such as if she thinks that Steve is showing signs of being an alcoholic she may advice him to attend an AA meetings or if she sees that Steve is overweight and needs help in loosing weight she may send him to groups that are specialised in helping people loose weight such as weightwatcher meetings. Lisa may also give out leaflets to a patient in order to help them with their health issue and for them to learn more about what it may consist of and how they can help themselves to get better health. Such as giving Steve leaflets on stopping smoking. The leaflet would contain information of what stopping smoking consists of and what different methods he can use to stop smoking. If Lisa is incapable of giving the patient the knowledge they need she may have to refer them onto someone who will have much more knowledge about the issue. Such as if Lisa found that there may be an issue with a Steve's health that would need him to have more tests and more examining then she will refer him to a doctor who will have more knowledge on what the issue is and they will be able to advise give more advice to the Steve than Lisa may be able too. Lisa educating the community and giving them advice is another way to show that she is promoting good health to the community. The education she is providing will help people to see the first symptoms of serious diseases such as lumps on the breast, which should be checked out for breast cancer. This education of people finding out about diseases in the early stages will help a person to overcome the disease and get their good health back as soon as they can. Rather than having no education on looking out for the disease they may end up noticing the disease months down the line when it may be too late. Also if people are being given positive advice they may feel better about themselves and therefore their lifestyle may become of a better quality and more positive. Such as if she was telling Steve how much fitter and healthier he will be if he looses weight and cuts down his drinking and smoking. Also that he will look much better and people will find him more attractive. This positive encouragement will help Steve to take on Lisa's advice and make him want to loose weight so he can achievement a positive outcome. The advice may also help people to seek out more medical help in order for them to maintain good health, without the advice they have been given by Lisa they may not know what to do about their health issue and things could have got much worse. Another task that Lisa might do as a community nurse is minor treatments. Lisa will not have the full medical training and knowledge as a doctor may have so therefore she will not be able to administer extreme drugs to the patient or be able to attend to serious wounds. However she will be able to dress wounds and make sure they are kept clean. Such as if Steve has a minor injury from being out drinking all night and falling over as he was drunk. He will need the wound dressing and Lisa will be able to clean it to prevent infection and then bandage it up to avoid further damage. Skills Lisa will need a variety of different skills as a community nurse. Firstly she will need mathematical skills. These mathematical skills can be put to use when she is making sure that numerical data is interpreted properly. If the data is interpreted properly then patients will have a correct understanding of what is going on with their body. Also Lisa can put her mathematical skills to use when she is doing Steve's BMI. If she correctly uses her mathematical skills to work out Steve's BMI then Steve will see Lisa as a knowledgeable, reliable person. If he sees Lisa as this then he will be more likely to listen to her advice and trust her. If he is listening to her advice because she has shown him that she is correct at her job and can help him then that will be helping Steve needs. Lisa should also have good communication skills. She can put these skills to use when she is trying to get her message across to Steve. If she is giving Steve results from a screening test she must make sure that she doesn't upset him and that she knows how to correctly communicate with him in order to get the best outcome. If Lisa seems to be nice and helpful towards Steve and she looks like she knows what she is saying and she is comforting Steve when he finds out some shocking news then Steve will maybe become to like Lisa and understand why she is there for him. If he understands that she is there to help him then he is more likely to listen to her and in listening to her and getting her advice Lisa will be helping Steve to loose weight and cut back on the bad things he is doing to his body. This will be helping Steve's needs. Lisa will have to have medical knowledge as a skill to be a community nurse. She will have to have medical knowledge so when she is giving out medical advice she will need to know that what she is saying is accurate and correct. If her medical knowledge is accurate and correct and she has the skill to advise people on what they should do and help people with their descriptions she will be trusted and respected a lot more than if she didn't have any knowledge on what she was doing. The medical knowledge can come in useful when she is working with Steve and helping with his needs. If Lisa shows Steve that she knows what she is doing and her knowledge is correct then Steve is going to want to follow her advice on how he can get his body fitter and healthier. Steve needs to lose weight and if he wants to follow Lisa's advice then she will be helping with his needs. If she had bad knowledge and seemed as if she didn't know what she was doing Steve would be put off by this fact and may not want to or follow her advice as he may seem it to be incorrect, or that its her opinion and not a medical one. Lisa also should have good communication skills. She must make sure that she gets her message across to her patients such as Steve in a way that won't offend them and will make them feel confident that she knows what she is saying. She must make sure that if she is giving out results such as screening tests to someone that she is professional and makes the person feel comfortable. If Lisa puts this skill to use when working with Steve she will be helping with his needs. She will be doing this by communicating to Steve what is going on with his body in a positive non-offensive way then Steve is going to want to listen to Lisa and he will see what she is saying is important and that will help him in being confident that he is in the right hands to lose weight and get healthier. Qualities There are many qualities that Lisa should have to be a good community nurse. Firstly she should be patient with the patient. She should never rush them into anything she must make sure she remains calm and not stressed out with the patient. Some patients may need to lose a lot of weight and if they aren't doing it as quick as the community nurse would like, they must make sure they still remain calm and patient. If they start to rush a patient into loosing weight and telling them there not doing well enough or quick enough then they may lose their self-esteem and that could cause them to stop the course of treatment and therefore they won't be loosing any weight. However if Lisa is patient and calm with patients like Steve throughout the whole time they are seeing them which could be many months, Steve will more likely to become more confident that what he is doing is going to be beneficial and that he is doing everything correctly therefore Lisa will be helping him with his needs. Another quality that Lisa should have as a community nurse but also in helping Steve with his needs is being encouraging. If Lisa is encouraging then Steve will want to carry on with what he is doing as he is being encouraged to do so. If Lisa is giving him positive encouragement and keeps reminding Steve how much better he will look and feel when he is healthier and fitter then Steve will become more determined to listen to her advice and participate in what she is doing to help him. If he listens to her advice then his needs will be for filled. Lisa should also make sure that she is very friendly towards her patients and that she doesn't come across as being very nice then patients like Steve will be put off from talking to her. If Steve is put off from talking to Lisa then he is unlikely to listen to her advice. If he doesn't follow or listen to her advice then he won't have his needs met. However is Lisa is friendly and kind towards Steve and shows him that she cares about him as an individual then Steve is more likely to listen to her advice and encouragement and have his needs met. Dietician Roles Sue is a dietician for the NHS. She works in partnership with doctors and a nurses who can refer their patients to Sue to get specific help that Sue as a dietician can help them with. Sue will have specialist knowledge about diets and nutrition as she is trained in them areas. Therefore Sue will be very useful in helping Steve with his diet and loosing weight. A dietician plans nutrition programs and food programs for their patients. Dieticians such as Sue can help prevent diseases and obesity problems because they teach people about the role of food in their diet. They usually run food programs in institutions, such as hospitals and schools. A dietician promotes healthy diets through education and education programs. Another role that Sue may have is to be able to create a diet based on what the doctor prescribes. The dietician must be able to prepare and calculate a diet based on the nutrients a person needs. Tasks A few tasks Sue may have to do as a dietician is educate her patients. The education is often about appropriate diets and what diet may be appropriate for their health needs. Sue could educate Steve on what diet he could start to take and how it will benefit him. Sue can also educate her patients by telling them the different types of food groups and why their all individually important. She could educate Steve on what the different foods he eats do for him and maybe what food group he should start eating and why. Also Sue can educate her patients about the risks of an unhealthy diet and being overweight. Steve would benefit from this education very well as he may not understand the full risks of what he is doing to his body, but if Sue educates him on what he is doing to it and how bad it is then it may encourage Steve to take action. One of Sue's tasks may also be giving her patients a diet that they specifically need and that will fit into their lifestyle. She could give Steve a diet that specifically is for him and fits around his university timetable. Both hospital and community dieticians educate people who need special diets as part of their medical treatment, for example patients with kidney disease, food allergies, eating disorders, diabetes, HIV/AIDS etc. Another task that Sue may do is to run food programmes. Running food programmes in places such as schools can help the young pupils to get more knowledge on nutrition and what diets they should be taking in order to be healthy. Sue could run a food programme at Steve's university to show Steve that it is important to lose weight and be healthy, not just him but everyone. Another task that a dietician may have is giving out advice. Sue could give out advice on diets and nutrition in many different ways. A few of these ways could be giving out leaflets in a school or community place to get people to read into more detail on how important a healthy diet is. Also she could give leaflets out to her specific patients advising them on how to cope with their new diet etc. Sue could also show videos and tell about case studies in communal places such a school or a GP. These videos will show awareness of a what an unhealthy diet can do and what you can do in order to maintain a good health and how you can do it. One of a community nurse's tasks are to produce diet plans to suit the individual and what's best for them. If Sue produced a diet plan that was suitable for Steve in order to lose weight then that will benefit him a lot. A dietician also monitors weight, they do this in order to see how well the patient is doing on the diet they have been set. If the patients diet plan isn't working for them and regular weight monitoring shows this then Sue may change their diet to something else to see if that diet plan works. Constant updating is needed in order for Sue to see if she needs to change diet plans for the patients. A dietician might incorporate exercise into the process, but this would only be minimum information such as that they should exercise regularly and often after meals etc. Skills Sue should have mathematical skills as a dietician. She will need these skills in order to produce accurate diet charts and to accurately work out a person's BMI. If the information Sue produces is correct because she has accurately used her mathematic skills then she will be able to tell Steve what to do to get healthier and lose weight. Steve will then believe that Sue knows what she is saying, he will then follow her advice and start to lose weight, this will be helping with his needs. Therefore he will feel better about himself as he will look and feel great. Sue should also have good communication skills. Good communication skills are useful as the information is given face to face so therefore its important that the message is given across appropriately. Steve is more likely to listen to Sue's information as she will be giving immediate responses and making him feel comfortable. This will help him as he will understand what to do to get himself healthier and this will help him to lose weight leading to him having a good self esteem, again Sue will be helping with what he needs. Sue should also be able to have a skill in order for her to be able to give good advice. Sue will have to give good advice with reason behind the advice she has given, she will also have to have medical and nutritional knowledge to back up what she is saying this is because Steve will then know that she is giving a medical overview on his body and that it is a serious fact that he is unhealthy and needs to lose weight, not just Sue's personal opinion. The knowledge that Sue has is important as she will be letting Steve know she knows what she's doing and he will follow what she is saying and he will lose the weight he needs also he will get much fitter and healthier and he will then feel much better about himself, therefore his needs will have been helped by Sue. Sue should also have knowledge on nutrition and dieting. This knowledge she has on nutrition and dieting will help her to provide accurate and immediate advice to her patients. If she is providing accurate and immediate advice to patients they will feel confident that she knows what she is doing. If Steve believes that Sue has knowledge and accuracy on what she is telling him then he will trust her and he will want to take her advice and he will stick to diet plans she sets him, if he loses weight as a result of Sue's work she will be helping his needs. Qualities Sue should have many good qualities in order to be a good and helpful dietician. Polite and friendly should be one quality. She will need to make sure she doesn't offend the patient in what she is saying. She shouldn't say that they are ‘fat' and need to lose all their ‘chubbiness†. She should be polite and professional and use the correct terminology to avoid any offence. Steve is overweight and if Sue worked out his BMI and saw this she shouldn't call him ‘fat'. She should tell him that he is overweight and borderline obese. Even though it sounds worse if Sue uses the correct terminology then Steve is less likely to get offended and more likely to take things seriously. If he takes things seriously he is more likely to want to lose weight and therefore his needs will be met. Sue should also have being approachable as a quality. If the Sue is approachable and friendly and nice the message she must give to Steve that he is overweight and does need to diet may make him accept these things more lightly than just saying he's fat and needs to lose weight fast. If Steve can accept things more lightly and understand what Sue is saying to him then he is more likely to be confident and want to lose weight. If he loses weight then his needs will have been met. Sue should also make sure that she is relaxed and patient with her patients but that she is also firm. Things may get irritating if a patient is refusing to diet or doesn't seem to think they should lose weight. Sue should stay relaxed and patient but however she must make sure that she doesn't give in and she stays firm. Such as making Steve stick to his diet plan. She must understand that it may be difficult at first but must be consistent and firm with Steve and keep reminding him that his needs can only be met if he works with her and takes onboard her advice. Sue must also make sure she stays positive. Being positive is a quality that Sue needs. She must make sure that she tells them how much better they will look and feel after all their hard work and that it will be very beneficial. If she does this then her patients will then want to aspire for the positive goals. If she is negative and rude patients such as Steve may not listen to her and may not lose weight and may even start to gain weight. If Steve doesn't lose weight then his needs will not be met. However if Sue stays positive with Steve and makes sure that he is in a positive frame of mind and he is in a determined lose as she tells him of all the benefits then Steve's needs will be met as he will eventually lose weight and feel and look much better.