Beatriz Arencibia – Sunday, July 31, 2022, 8:02 AM
Number of replies: 6
Developmental Realms
An advanced practice nurse (APN) plays a considerable role in refining young adults’ health with the help of preventive screening. This strategy is one of the most important and effective for facilitating early diagnosing and creating an individual treatment plan, which allows the prevention of premature lethal outcomes (Bell et al., 2017). Thus, it is important for nurses to focus on promoting this practice among the younger generation and to become a mentor for them in health issues and the associated preventive measures, which will improve their quality of life. The role of APN includes providing evidence-based education to young people, counseling, and the promotion of the idea that preventive screening is important. It is possible to do this in clinics, hospitals, as well as colleges and universities. Moreover, the ways of informing young clients can vary, from personal conversations and lectures to textbooks, handouts, and peer-reviewed online sources. Therefore, providing patient education is APN’s key role in developing awareness of preventive screening among young adults.
Furthermore, APN’s role in improving the health of young patients through conducting interventions is significant. Healthcare implies a wide spectrum of sensitive nursing interventions useful for maintaining young adults’ wellness guided by evidence-based findings like nutrition, elimination, mobility, and hygiene, which can prolong patients’ lives and increase their satisfaction levels (Richards et al., 2018). The main role of a nurse is not only to enhance the quality of interventions but to promote this practice among young people as well. APNs can spread information both in medical and educational institutions through face-to-face meetings, seminars, training, videos, and memos. Education is the basis for increasing knowledge about interventions, their necessity, and positive outcomes. Additionally, the role of a nurse is to teach patients self-care, like developing personalized diet and exercising plan, the individual selection of hygiene products, providing advice to relieve stress and sex education. Thus, like in the case of preventive screening, the main tool of APN in improving the health of young people is patient education, including self-care.
References
Bell, N. R., Grad, R., Dickinson, J. A., Singh, H., Moore, A. E., Kasperavicius, D., & Kretschmer, K. L. (2017, July). Better decision making in preventive health screening. Canadian Family Physician, 63(7), 521-524. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507224/
Richards, D. A., Hilli, A., Pentecost, C., Goodwin, V. A., & Frost, J. (2018, June). Fundamental nursing care: A systematic review of the evidence on the effect of nursing care interventions for nutrition, elimination, mobility and hygiene. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(11-12), 2179-2188. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6001513/
Olivia Dominguez Rios – Tuesday, August 2, 2022, 2:00 PM
Number of replies: 1
Young adults’ health needs require much attention as they are translated from adolescence to adulthood. Young adults are of years that range from the seventeen to early twenties. Preventive screening and intervention help the nurse to identify the emerging health problems and prevent them from progressing into chronic conditions. As elaborated below, an advanced nurse can help young adults improve their health through preventive screening and intervention on their mental health, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections.
Mental health issues such as depression and suicide are among young adults’ leading causes of illness. Stigma, poverty, and exclusion can increase mental health problems (Gustavson et al., 2018). Failure to address these mental health conditions among them can affect their mental and physical health, hindering them from reaching adulthood. Therefore, nurses should act as counselors to help these individuals build socio-emotional skills and help them strengthen bonds with their families for their health benefit. If a nurse detects any mental health problem, it should be timely managed.
Substance use such as drinking alcohol can lead to risky behaviors such as unsafe sex due to a lack of self-control. Unprotected sex can completely damage the individual’s life, leading to early pregnancy or chronic infection such as HIV/AIDS (Shannon & Klausner, 2018). Drug use can lead to chronic health conditions in the future, for example, stroke, which prevents one part of the brain from getting enough oxygen. It can also cause injuries such as road accidents, leading to premature death or disability (Shin, McDonald & Conley, 2018). Nurses can play a role in helping prevent young adults from drug abuse by creating awareness of the negative effects of drug abuse, teaching young adults and family members about substance abuse, and educating them on how to address family issues and how to cope with them the problems.
In general, mental health, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infection can negatively affect the health of a young adult. Therefore, advanced nurses can play an important role in improving the health of young adults by educating them on the benefits of maintaining their mental health and how to cope with problems that can lead to mental problems, Providing health teaching to young adults and their families members on the facts about substance abuse.
References
Shin, S. H., McDonald, S. E., & Conley, D. (2018). Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and substance use among young adults: A latent class analysis. Addictive behaviors, 78, 187-192.
Gustavson, K., Knudsen, A. K., Nesvåg, R., Knudsen, G. P., Vollset, S. E., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2018). Prevalence and stability of mental disorders among young adults: findings from a longitudinal study. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 1-15.
Shannon, C. L., & Klausner, J. D. (2018). The growing epidemic of sexually transmitted infections in adolescents: a neglected population. Current opinion in pediatrics, 30(1), 137.
