WEEK 1: Health Assessment
Health assessment is important and often first step in identifying the patient’s problem. Health assessment helps to identify the medical need of patients. Patients health is assessed by conducting physical examination of patient. NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
A health assessment is a plan of care that identifies the specific needs of a person and how those needs will be addressed by the healthcare system or skilled nursing facility. Health assessment is the evaluation of the health status by performing a physical exam after taking a health history. There are different from diagnostic tests which are done when someone is already showing signs and/or symptoms of a disease. The major health assessments are Initial Assessment in which determine the nature of the problem and prepares the way for the ensuing assessment stages. Focused Assessment, which expose and treats the problem. Time-Lapsed Assessment, which ensure that the patient is recovering from his malady and his condition has stabilized. Emergency Assessments focus on rapidly identifying the root causes of concern for the patient and assessing the airway, breathing and circulation (ABCs) of the patient.
Migration health assessments are among the most well-established migration management services offered by IOM. At the request of receiving country governments, IOM provides an evaluation of the physical and mental health status of migrants prior to their departure for the purpose of resettlement, international employment, enrolment in specific migrant assistance programmes, or for obtaining a temporary or permanent visa.
Reflecting national differences in immigration and public policies and practices, there is a diverse range of health assessment requirements among receiving countries. These requirements may be specific to certain diseases of public health concern such as tuberculosis, as is the case with the United Kingdom Tuberculosis Detection Programme; requirements may also be more general in nature, or include additional interventions, such as vaccinations. But despite differences in health assessment requirements among countries, one thing remains constant: the need to ensure that the migration process does not endanger the health of either the migrant or host communities.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Migration health assessments have many benefits, including the early detection and treatment of conditions of individual and public health concern, safer travel and the prevention of negative health events during travel or on arrival at host communities. Additionally, they serve to protect the health of both migrants and host communities and reduce the expected demand for domestic health and social services. Health assessment programmes also allow refugee resettlement agencies to adequately prepare for the arrival of refugees by providing them with important medical information in advance. Migration health assessments are coherent with the IOM goal of “healthy migrants in healthy communities” and, as such, positively impact on migrants’ capacity to integrate fully into receiving societies.
The Migration Health Assessment and Travel Assistance Programmes (HAPs) represent the largest activity of IOM’s Migration Health Division (MHD) in terms of migrants served, staff concerned and operational costs. From 2001-2010, the number of individual health assessments provided by IOM grew considerably, amounting to over 1.5 million health assessments over the course of the decade. By 2015, IOM health assessments reached a total of nearly 3 million across more than 80 countries, with approximately 350,000 exams in 2015 alone.
Migration health assessments involve a review of the migrant’s medical history, a physical examination, additional investigations, such as imaging studies, laboratory tests and specialist referrals, if required, documentation of findings and confidential transfer of relevant information to appropriate immigration or public health authorities. Related services include preventive and/or curative treatment or referral for treatment, counselling, health education, public health interventions, including, but not limited, to surveillance, outbreak response, vaccinations, and travel assistance.
Travel assistance serves to address individual health and safety and to manage conditions of public health concern as individuals move across geographical, health system and epidemiological boundaries. Within health assessments programmes, pre-embarkation checks and pre-departure medical screenings are performed in order to assess a migrant’s fitness to travel and provide medical clearance. These measures also ensure that migrants are referred to appropriate medical services once they arrive at their destination countries. Migrants who need medical assistance and care during travel are escorted by health professionals to avoid complications during transit. Pre-departure treatment, vaccinations and other public health interventions are also tailored to meet the needs of migrants and immigration authorities.
WEEK 2: Nursing Leadership
All care provider organizations need nurse leaders to oversee staff members. [1] The health care field grows more complex as nurse leaders brace for a mass exodus of retiring registered nurses and an influx of fresh, green talent.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Despite warnings of a health care talent shortage for the last several decades, developing new nurse leaders has been a low priority for current administrations. Today, three factors are of particular concern to nurse leaders: the growing baby boomer population, the increased demand for medical services presented by this group, and the large number of registered nurses who will soon retire.
It’s critical that current nurse leaders groom protégés to fill the void that will be left by their exodus. The lack of preparation to affect this outcome, despite years of warnings, has presented a considerable challenge for health care providers. Now is a difficult time for organizations attempting to develop a pool of qualified nurse leaders.
The retiring nurse cohort represents the biggest challenge for provider organizations who will experience a large influx of inexperienced nursing talent that will eventually comprise half the United States registered nursing pool. These circumstances make the cultivation of new nurse leaders vitally important. As a result, various nursing advocates have formed alliances to develop new leaders. With this in mind, the following nine qualities aid nursing executives in meeting the objective of fostering new leadership talent.
1. Emotional Intelligence
In clinical settings, nurse leaders work closely with trainees to help them develop emotional intelligence. [2] Such support helps peers to cope with the stressors that present during routine challenges. Nurse leaders assist trainees in managing those challenges and other counterproductive influences that can result in emotional exhaustion and poor team collaboration.
2. Integrity
Integrity for one’s self and among charges is a primary objective for nurse leaders. [1] Personal integrity aids nurse practitioners in making the right choices during critical junctures in patients’ treatment plans. Additionally, effective leaders adapt to use, and teach, ethically viable practices that enable fledgling nurse leaders to make safe and effective care decisions intrinsically.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
3. Critical Thinking
Nurse leaders guide unpolished practitioners in the use of critical thinking to develop their ability to make decisions based on a complex array of factors. This skill is vital in a health care environment with increasing instances of multidisciplinary collaboration. The growing trend of autonomy for nurses also makes critical thinking a valuable professional skill for practitioners.
4. Dedication to Excellence
Nurse leaders are committed to their passion and purpose and exemplify this through their perseverance in the caregiving setting. [3] To foster this trait among new nurses, leaders may assess performances quarterly. Despite the technique used to improve nurse performance, all nurse leaders teach their charges dedication to excellence by delivering top-notch service so that trainees can learn from their examples.
5. Communication Skills
The current multidisciplinary treatment environment greatly increases the importance of collaboration in the care provider setting. To facilitate collaboration, nurse leaders arrange for trainees to attend rounds while engaging with various medical professionals, such as support staff, primary care providers, and senior executives. Some health care organizations also establish recruitment retention teams, who might engage in these rounds with trainees.
6. Professional Socialization
During training, nurse leaders gain an intense understanding of patient-nurse dynamics. [2] Nurse leaders focus on developing how trainees engage with patients after the triage process. Effective nurse leaders identify opportunities to develop new organizational leaders during this learning process.
7. Respect
Nurse leaders are passionate, dynamic influence rs who inspire change in others and, in the process, win the respect and trust of their charges. To accomplish this, leaders teach communication techniques such as two-way communication and rephrasing to promote a workplace environment where stakeholders engage each other in a productive, positive manner. By understanding each other’s circumstances, trainees gain respect for their peers and nurse leaders.
8. Mentor ship
Nurse leaders deploy motivational strategies that cater to the individual personalities of their trainees. By empowering trainees and guiding them toward understanding their roles as care providers, nurse leaders cultivate an environment of continual learning. While effective nurse leaders make every effort to identify learning opportunities, they give trainees enough autonomy so that they do not feel micromanaged.
9. Professionalism
Nursing is a dynamic profession that requires competent, confident leadership. As organizational leaders, these professionals represent the nursing field at nearly every professional point of contact within the organization. This will increase in significance as nurse leaders find themselves representing the field in the boardroom more frequently as time moves forward.
Nursing leadership will change hands to a new generation of nursing talent over the next decade. [1] These professionals will play a vital role in liaising between nurses and executive leaders in the evolving health care environment. Therefore, it is critical that nurse leaders start cultivating their replacements now and that the new generation of nurses pursue advanced training, such as Doctor of Nursing Practice accreditation, that will allow them to practice to the full extent of their capabilities.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
WEEK 3 : Organizational Structure
An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can include rules, roles, and responsibilities.organizational structure also determines how information flows between levels within the company. For example, in a centralized structure, decisions flow from the top down, while in a decentralized structure, decision-making power is distributed among various levels of the organization.
Having an organizational structure in place allows companies to remain efficient and focused.
Understanding Organizational Structures
Businesses of all shapes and sizes use organizational structures heavily. They define a specific hierarchy within an organization. A successful organizational structure defines each employee’s job and how it fits within the overall system. Put simply, the organizational structure lays out who does what so the company can meet its objectives.
This structuring provides a company with a visual representation of how it is shaped and how it can best move forward in achieving its goals. Organizational structures are normally illustrated in some sort of chart or diagram like a pyramid, where the most powerful members of the organization sit at the top, while those with the least amount are at the bottom.
Not having a formal structure in place may prove difficult for certain organizations. For instance, employees may have difficulty knowing to whom they should report. That can lead to uncertainty as to who is responsible for what in the organization.
Having a structure in place can help improve efficiency and provide clarity for everyone at every level. That also means each and every department can be more productive, as they are likely to be more focused on energy and time.
Centralized Versus Decentralized Organizational Structures
An organizational structure is either centralized or decentralized. Traditionally, organizations have been structured with centralized leadership and a defined chain of command. The military is an organization famous for its highly centralized structure, with a long and specific hierarchy of superiors and subordinates.
There has been a rise in decentralized organizations, as is the case with many technology startups. This allows companies to remain fast, agile, and adaptable, with almost every employee receiving a high level of personal agency.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Types of Organizational Structures
Four types of common organizational structures are implemented in the real world. The first and most common is a functional structure. This is also referred to as a bureaucratic organizational structure and breaks up a company based on the specialization of its workforce. Most small-to-medium sized businesses implement a functional structure. Dividing the firm into departments consisting of marketing, sales, and operations is the act of using a bureaucratic organizational structure.
The second type is common among large companies with many business units. Called the divisional or multi divisional structure, a company that uses this method structures its leadership team based on the products, projects, or subsidiaries they operate. A good example of this structure is Johnson & Johnson. With thousands of products and lines of business, the company structures itself so each business unit operates as its own company with its own president.
Flatarchy, a newer structure, is the third type and is used among many startups. As the name alludes, it flattens the hierarchy and chain of command and gives its employees a lot of autonomy. Companies that use this type of structure have a high speed of implementation.
The fourth and final organizational structure is a matrix structure. It is also the most confusing and the least used. This structure matrixes employees across different superiors, divisions, or departments. An employee working for a matrixed company, for example, may have duties in both sales and customer service.
WEEK 4: Issues Within Emergency Department
Most people go to a hospital emergency room when they have been in a serious accident. They also do so when they have broken bones or other body parts that are out of place. Regardless of their justification for visiting an emergency room, most patients require immediate attention in order to capitalize on the opportunity window that can save their lives.
General processes in the emergency room are kept at a minimum in order to attend to patients as soon as possible. Usually, three processes are undertaken, and they include triage, treatment and transfer. An emergency room is not a place for chronic issues or follows ups.
It only handles those matters that are out of control. However, some patients may visit the emergency room more than once because of the nature of their condition or inability of previous procedures to deal with the ailment completely. The staff members in the emergency room have special training to deal with such a high-stakes environment. Their goal is to stabilize the patient, after which they send them to other hospital units. Sometimes these individuals may be admitted in the hospital or may be fortune enough to go home.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Patients in emergency rooms are likely to exhibit certain characteristics that justify the need for emergency treatment. Some of them could be unconscious while others may exhibit signs of a heart attack. Such instances include chest tightness, light headedness, pressure and severe chest pains.
Alternatively, people may visit the emergency room with cases of poison ingestion. Sometimes these individuals may be having a severe reaction to a previous intervention like medicine. In other scenarios, it may be brought on by a sting or bite. Patients in the emergency room are likely to have severe head injury and may even be physically or mentally disoriented. Some of the subjects may experience severe pain in a certain body part.
If the complication is lung-related, then they could have shortness of breath. Nonstop breathing as well as continuous bleeding may also be some of the symptoms that patients have in the emergency room. Others could lose sensory abilities like hearing, speech, vision and body movement. These patients may also exude body fluids from unusual places such as blood from the mouth or could have mucous-like discharge from injured parts of the body.
Inside the emergency room, patients may undergo treatment in various forms. For instance, if someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest, he or she will receive advanced life support. A person with a heart attack will enter the resuscitation room where they will receive oxygen and be subjected to an ECG test.
They will receive nitroglycerin as well as morphine for pain. A person with trauma must go through an x-ray within the shortest time possible. Once the nature of the broken bone is established, then re perfusion or surgery will take place. Such persons must receive treatment within an hour of the accident so as to increase chances of survival.
Emergency rooms come in different varieties and forms depending on the nature of the injury, trauma or condition. One such emergency room is the resuscitation room. Here, very ill patients are admitted. The facility only contains equipment that deals with emergency situations.
Even the number and type of staff members must reflect this goal. In the room, one will have an attending physician as well as two nurses. Sometimes these staff members may be permanently located in the room. Alternatively, they could be available on call whenever an ambulance service enters the hospital. In resuscitation, other medical experts like technicians, medical students and pharmacists can also handle their cases.
Pediatric and mental health emergency rooms also exist in hospitals. These locations are different from the conventional ones because the groups under consideration do not share the same characteristics with conventional patients. In pediatric emergency rooms, one may find an additional staff member whose role is to ensure that children are at ease.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
In the psychiatric emergency room, one is likely to find specialists who can handle dire mental health conditions. Psychiatrists, social workers as well as nurses may be in these facilities. Their work is to ensure that their patients do not become a risk to themselves as well as to their environment.
Workers in the emergency room must think on their feet and do the right thing with limited resources. Life and death situations are quite common, so none of the employees take their work lightly. Sometimes, emergencies may occur in large proportions.
For instance, a terrorist attack may take place or a bombing may occur. In this regard, emergency rooms may need to operate beyond their capacity. When such events arise, it is sometimes necessary to divert more resources towards emergency care. Staff members, from other parts of the hospital, need to set aside their usual responsibilities and focus on urgent cases first.
WEEK 5: Group Involvement in Healthcare
Interdisciplinary teamwork is an important model for delivering health care to patients.
Teamwork in health is defined as two or more people who interact interdependently with a common purpose, working toward measurable goals that benefit from leadership that maintains stability while encouraging honest discussion and problem solving [1] . Researchers have found that integrating services among many health providers is a key component to better treat undeserved populations and communities with limited access to health care [2].
As the name implies, teamwork in health care employs the practices of collaboration and enhanced communication to expand the traditional roles of health workers and to make decisions as a unit that works toward a common goal [3]. The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation [4] found that teams function better when they have a clear purpose and implement protocols and procedures. Also important is the use of meetings and other communication methods to discuss patient results, share information, and debate suggestions to improve performance [5]. Teamwork and collaboration are especially essential to care of patients in a decentralized health system with many levels of health workers [2].NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Health care, by definition, is a multidisciplinary profession in which doctors, nurses, health professionals from different specialties must work together, communicate often, and share resources[3]. Health teams are often made up of a variety of professionals – called cadres in health care – each with specialized knowledge and responsible for different tasks. These multidisciplinary teams are made up to solve health problems [4]. Successful health teams strive to understand the patient’s situation, ask probing questions about the problem, make an initial assessment and, after discussion, provide a recommendation6. Teams can also work together to develop health promotion for diverse communities and instill disease prevention behaviors amongst patients [2].
Why is teamwork important
Teamwork became an important health intervention for a number of reasons. First, clinical care is becoming more complex and specialized, forcing medical staffs to attempt complicated health services and quickly learn new methods. Aging populations, the increase of chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease have forced medical staffs to take a multidisciplinary approach to health care [6, 7]. In countries like the United States, medical teams must manage patients suffering from multiple health problems [8].
Other countries are also concerned with increasing access to health care for diverse populations. In Brazil, health teams train to intimately understand the needs of patients, but also of local communities and different cultures [2].
Secondly, researchers have found that working together reduces the number of medical errors and increases patient safety [9, 10]. Teamwork also reduces issues that lead to burnout [4]. No longer is one person responsible for the patient’s health; today, an entire team of health workers comes together to coordinate a patient’s well-being [11] . Health teams help break down hierarchy and centralized power of health organizations, giving more leverage to health workers [12].
Third, because teamwork is centered on solid communication, patients and their families sometimes feel more at ease and report they accept treatments and feel more satisfied with their health care [6, 7]. Health workers are also found to be more satisfied with their work [13]. A study found nurses who go through successful team building efforts are more satisfied with their work [13].NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Teamwork and medical school
Teamwork and team training is now seen as essential part of preservice education. Because learning how to communicate effectively and work together can be time consuming, learning teamwork within the context of medical curricula will make students better prepared [14].
WEEK 7 : Inter professional Organizational and Systems Leadership
Competing needs arise within any organization as employees seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet company goals. As a leader, successful management of these goals requires establishing priorities and allocating resources accordingly.
Within a healthcare setting, the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients are often in conflict. Mandatory overtime, implementation of staffing ratios, use of unlicensed assisting personnel, and employer reductions of education benefits are examples of practices that might lead to conflicting needs in practice.
Leaders can contribute to both the problem and the solution through policies, action, and inaction. In this Assignment, you will further develop the white paper you began work on in Module 1 by addressing competing needs within your organization.
To Prepare:
- Review the national healthcare issue/stress or you examined in your Assignment for Module 1, and review the analysis of the healthcare issue/stress or you selected.
- Identify and review two evidence-based scholarly resources that focus on proposed policies/practices to apply to your selected healthcare issue/stress or.
- Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post regarding competing needs.
Developing Organizational Policies and Practices
Add a section to the paper you submitted in Module 1. The new section should address the following:NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
- Identify and describe at least two competing needs impacting your selected healthcare issue/stress or.
- Describe a relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stress or.
- Critique the policy for ethical considerations, and explain the policy’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
- Recommend one or more policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients, while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies. Be specific and provide examples.
- Cite evidence that informs the healthcare issue/stress or and/or the policies, and provide two scholarly resources in support of your policy or practice recommendations.
Inter professional communication and collaboration are a significant part of ensuring safe and effective patient outcomes. In the case detailed below the health care team failed to communicate and collaborate care of patient A, ultimately leading to a negative outcome. Patient A is a female white 38 year old G1P0 with Type I diabetes since the age of 9. Due to her high risk pregnancy and history of non compliance with medical therapy she had been coming in since 28 weeks gestation for twice weekly non stress tests. One Saturday as patient A was at the hospital for her non stress test she was found to have elevated blood pressure and proteinuria. Dr. A, an obstetrician (OB), who was on call for the weekend decided to send the patient home on bed rest and to follow up with her primary OB physician, Dr. B on Monday. At her follow up appointment with her primary OB, she was found to still have elevated blood pressures, blood sugars in 200’s, 2+ protein in her urine and had some elevated blood work. Primary OB decided Patient A needed to be induced due to patient A’s unstable condition. Primary OB is not on call this particular Monday and asked Dr. C to induce her patient. Dr. C was not happy about inducing her because of her high risk status but agreed to do so. Dr. D, a laborist and pediatrician, wanted the patient transferred to a higher level of care facility because he felt due to patient A’s history best care for the newborn would be at another facility. Dr. D and Dr. C argued about patient A’s care and disposition at the nurses’ station which was in close proximity to patient A’s room. The nurses who were without a manager at the time were unable to control the altercation between Dr. C and Dr. D. Patient A who overheard the discussion eventually asked to be transfer to another hospital to seek care elsewhere.
WEEK 8: Management VS Leadership
People often mistake leadership and management as the same thing but in essence, they are very different. The main difference between the two is that leaders have people that follow them, while managers have people who simply work for them. Particularly in small businesses, for a small business owner to be successful they need to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team on board with working towards their vision of success. Leadership is about getting people to comprehend and believe in the vision you set for the company and to work with you on achieving your goals, while management is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day activities are happening as they should.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same thing, but they are necessarily linked and complementary to one another. Any effort to separate the two within an organization is likely to cause more problems than it solves. For any company to be successful, it needs management that can plan, organize and coordinate its staff, while also inspiring and motivating them to perform to the best of their ability.
LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT INSPIRING AND MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT PLANNING
Leaders have a tendency to praise success and drive people, whereas managers work to find faults. They paint a picture of what they see as possible for the company and work to inspire and engage their people in turning that vision into reality. Rather than seeing individuals as just a particular set of skills, they think beyond what they do and activate them to be part of something much bigger. They’re well aware of how high-functioning teams can accomplish a lot more when working together than individuals working autonomously are ever able to achieve.
For both sides to understand what they have to do, and to achieve excellence in doing it, they need to comprehend the essence of the difference between them. This is a matter of definition – understanding how the roles are different and how they might overlap. Managers, on the other hand, will focus on setting, measuring and achieving goals by controlling situations to reach or exceed their objectives.
WEEK 9 : Leadership Styles
This sample comparative essay discusses effective leaders, and how they are able to get their team members to accomplish tasks and achieve goals.
Differences between directive and supportive leadership styles
According to Baldwin (2008), leaders must be able to take their followers towards a direction they may not have pursued without the influence of the leader (pg. 236). However the ways in which these goals are achieved vary from leader to leader.
Leadership styles are often adopted based on what individuals in management positions believe is needed for team members to achieve their goals. Individuals in leadership positions must be able to determine what will motivate their employees as this is what they will need to provide in order to reach the company’s goals. Directive and supportive leadership styles are very different from each other. The style which a leader may use reflects what these leaders believe about their employees inherent qualities.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Directive leadership style
Leaders who choose a more directive leadership style believe that their employees need to be told what to do and are working more towards earning a paycheck rather than the benefit of completing good work. Directive leaders can be considered micro managers as they tell their employees what to do, when to do it, how to do it and where to complete their work. These leaders are very structured and may be unwilling to be flexible to meet their employee’s needs.
They are focused on achieving deadlines rather than how their employee is feeling about the work. Directive leaders are also more likely to control their employees by supervising every aspect of their employee’s duties. A directive leader is happy when the tasks are completed by their deadlines. The flaws with this type of leadership are that the leader may be too focused on policies and procedures rather than on what their employees need. These leaders will not have a secure relationship with their employees as they do not take the time to build morale or a relationship with them.
Supportive leadership style
Leaders who choose a more supportive role believe that their employees are motivated by more than just a paycheck. These leaders believe that their employees want to achieve high quality work. They also believe that an employee is able to achieve this high quality work on their own with encouragement rather than direct supervision. A supportive leader engages in two way communication with their employee rather than just telling them what to do.
They are unlikely to micromanage an employee’s tasks rather they will act as a facilitator only providing assistance when the employee needs it. A supportive leader provides consistent praise and encouragement in order to motivate their employees. These types of leaders are also more concerned with how their employees are doing rather than just focusing on tasks. These leaders understand that employees who are stressed out may not be functional in the workplace.
Supportive leaders want to be able to build a positive and encouraging relationship with their employees which they believe will lead to high quality work and minimal stress in the workplace setting. The flaws with this type of leadership are that a supportive leader may be too lax with their employees. These employees may not be getting work done as they will not have to face repercussions for not completing their work.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
Versatility: A leadership middle ground
Versatility is also an important component to good leadership. According to Howell (2001), effective leaders do not solely choose one style over the other (pg. 41). The leader who is able to blend the two styles can be the more successful. A leader needs to be able to be directive when needed or supportive when it is needed in alternative situations. This is due to the fact that not all employees are alike.
Some employees may require more of a directive approach especially when they are having difficulty achieving a task by its required deadline, while other employees may become stressed when working with a leader who is micromanaging them. These employees may need a leader who is more supportive. By being able to switch from these styles an effective leader can work with all type of employees in various situations.
WEEK 11 : High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, called hypertension by doctors, affects nearly one out of every three Americans. High blood pressure can cause a multitude of serious medical problems. The good news is that there are medications and lifestyle changes that are very effective at treating problems with blood pressure. Damage to the body slows down or stops when blood pressure is brought under control.
In order to understand hypertension, it is first necessary to understand what blood pressure is and how it occurs.
The body’s tissues depend on nourishment from the blood in order to survive. Blood circulates to all body tissues through a network of blood vessels and organs known as the circulatory system. The blood is entirely contained by the circulatory system. It stays within the various vessels, arteries and organs (the lungs and heart) comprising the circulatory system and fills the space within that system pretty much completely.
Blood does not move through the circulatory system by itself. Rather, it is forced through the circulatory system by the heart. The force of the heart’s muscular contractions exert pressure onto the blood, forcing it to flow through the blood vessels. The blood vessel walls contain the force exerted by the heart, pushing back on the blood and providing it only one avenue of forward movement; through the circulatory system in a continual loop.
Blood pressure is thus the result of two sets of forces – the force of the heart and the resistance of the vessel walls – coming together to push the blood through the body’s circulatory system.
Blood pressure is not constant or flat; rather it is cyclical or wavy. The heart beats and relaxes again and again in a steady rhythm. If one was to graph the force exerted by the heart as it plays out over time, a waveform would result, with peaks and troughs corresponding respectively to heart beats and resting periods. As the heart beats, it exerts force on the blood, increasing the overall blood pressure. As the heart relaxes between beats, there is less force exerted onto the vessels and the blood pressure lowers. This moment to moment up and down cycling of blood pressure is normal and continues throughout a person’s life.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments
In addition to the blood pressure being wavy due to the alternation of heart beats and resting periods, the total average blood pressure is also dynamic and always changing in response to the amount of arousal people experience. During exercise, for example, the heart beats faster and with more force in each beat, compared to the resting state and the total average blood pressure changes accordingly. If you go from sitting to standing your blood pressure will change slightly. If you go from walking to running your blood pressure will change slightly. Therefore your blood pressure may vary from one measurement to the next.
The body’s blood vessels are strong and elastic and designed to accommodate a variety of blood pressures, but even good materials have their limits. It is important that the blood pressure never get too strong. What is needed is just enough pressure to move the blood through the body, and not any more than that optimal amount. If the pressure becomes too strong, the vessels themselves can be damaged with long term consequences for the health of the tissues and organs that depend on those vessels. When damage does occur, it generally happens slowly over time and not as any single ‘blowout’ event.NURS 6053 Essay Assignments