What is Different in the Other Side of the World: Holistic Health Assessment for Nurses

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Jackie L. Michael, PhD, APRN, WHNP-BC
Shool of Nursing at University of Texas at Arlington, University fo Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Ellen L. Palmer, RN, PhD
Nursing, The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing, Arlington, TX

Learning Objective 1: Identify the influence of Nurse Role to define holistic health assessment and nursing practice trends globally

Learning Objective 2: Analyze the professional and clinical implications of holistic health assessment course prepared for international target audience

This presentation will discuss the data collected to measure effectiveness of holistic health assessment course taught in India.  The nurse role has evolved historically over the past years and across the globe. This evolution of the nurse role has been influenced by local and national legislative and governmental agencies along with ever-changing health needs. Social, economic and medical practices have continued to influence the nursing profession. These influences are not limited to the United States, but extend internationally across the globe. As we appreciate the evolving nurse role in light of external influences, we cannot ignore the impact of nursing education in the advancing of the nurse role.
An effort to teach holistic health assessment in India was made in order to empower the nurses with content and skills to conduct holistic health assessment with the intent to increase competence and confidence in nurses. Pre-test and Post-test were utilized to measure the level of knowledge of health assessment content and skills along with items to capture report of confidence/self-efficacy before and after the holistic health assessment course was taught.
This presentation will discuss and analyze the professional and clinical implications of holistic health assessment course prepared for nurses in Bangalore, India. The relatively short term objective and purpose of this discussion is to elaborate on the empowerment of nurses as they take control of the redefinition process of the nurse role within global influences. The long term objective and purpose of the teaching efforts internationally to nurses in India and dissemination of the information collected and analyzed though international effort to promote and influence the process to expand the nurse role of the truly empowered nurse via education. Such efforts can only continue to be effective if they are supported by nurse leaders, educators and policy developers nationally and internationally.