Gordon's functional health patterns

Gordon's functional health patterns are eleven categories of topics relating to the physical, mental, and emotional health of a medical patient. This list of categories helps nurses and other caregivers assess their patients and their needs in order to provide the most effective care. The eleven categories include health perception and health management; nutrition and metabolism; elimination; activity and exercise; cognition and perception; sleep and rest; self-perception and self-concept; roles and relationships; sexuality and reproduction; coping and stress tolerance; and values and beliefs. Nursing expert Marjory Gordon compiled these categories.

Background

In modern times, medical technology and treatment options have increased greatly. Patients now have a wide range of opportunities to improve their mental, physical, and emotional health and well-being. With these new technologies and options come more advanced and intensive science and greater demands for accurate medical data.

For nurses and other caregivers, gathering information about patients is often just as vital as tending to their immediate needs. Medical staff use this information to assess patients' current states as well as the methods of treatment they will require. In an attempt to make data collection and storage easier, many medical experts have attempted to categorize and standardize the main kinds of data needed for effective patient management.

One of these experts was Marjory Gordon. Gordon began her nursing career in New York after earning her bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Hunter College. Later, she attended Boston College, where she earned her doctorate. Gordon became the first president of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) in 1982. In this role, she dedicated herself to analyzing the processes, ethics, and diagnostic reasoning of the nursing profession.

One of Gordon's main contributions to nursing was her study of communication and record keeping for nurses. She found new ways to organize and standardize the categories of information that are most important to assessing a patient's health and needs. Her most famous system came to be known as Gordon's functional health patterns. This system became popular during the transition from paper to computerized medical records. Many people feel it helped create the basis for the modern computerized system.

Gordon was also a professor, author, and award-winning medical theorist. Although she died on April 29, 2015, many of her theories and innovations are still in use. Her list of functional health patterns is known and observed by medical practitioners around the world. It has helped provide the safest and most efficient medical treatment to millions of patients.

Overview

The functional health patterns proposed by Gordon are meant to encapsulate the most important factors of patient health. They are also meant to help health care providers gather information quickly and efficiently and add it to databases, or collections, of patient information that can be easily shared and accessed as needed. Medical staff can use this information to plan the best programs of care for patients.

The list of functional health patterns includes eleven main topics:

• health perception and health management
• nutrition and metabolism
• elimination
• activity and exercise
• cognition and perception
• sleep and rest
• self-perception and self-concept
• roles and relationships
• sexuality and reproduction
• coping and stress tolerance
• values and beliefs

Together, these eleven criteria can create a comprehensive demonstration of a patient's physical, mental, and emotional state.

The health evaluator often starts by asking patients to describe their feelings about their own health and list behaviors that may affect their health. Some patients may believe they are very healthy, and others may feel they are very unhealthy. These perceptions may not be accurate, but they are important in evaluating the patient's state and attitudes. Meanwhile, some behaviors, such as smoking or improper hygiene, might be warning signs of health problems.

The patient's eating and drinking habits are very important. Evaluators want to ensure that patients are getting enough nutrients but not eating too much food or the wrong kinds of food. Dietary intake should match the patient's metabolism and medical needs. Relatedly, a patient's elimination abilities also may be important. The body must not only take in food and use its energy but also safely and efficiently remove wastes afterward. Evaluators must ensure that a patient's excretory systems are working properly.

Evaluators ask about a patient's physical activity to determine whether the patient is able to move easily and accomplish regular daily tasks. Any physical problems identified during this inquiry may affect the plans for the patient's care. For instance, patients with limited mobility may require full-time nursing attention. Similarly, evaluators will ask about the patient's exercise routines, if any, to help assess their fitness level.

The patient's cognitive abilities are another important point of evaluation. Evaluators must determine whether the patient's senses are working correctly and providing the needed sensory information, and whether the patient is accurately perceiving and acting on this information. The patient's habits of sleeping and resting may have a large impact on their cognition, and they are also evaluated.

Medical personnel often try to gauge a patient's self-perception. Does the patient have a healthy attitude about life and good self-esteem? These factors can help a patient persevere through illnesses and difficult treatments. They may also affect the patient's relationships, another important factor for assessment. Defined and positive roles in the world, such as membership in a family or group of friends, also play a large role in a patient's outlook.

Evaluators may also assess the patient's sexual health, including their level of satisfaction and ability to reproduce. They also examine the patient's methods of perceiving and coping with stressful situations, which can, like self-perception, help to bolster spirits during times of sickness. Finally, evaluators often try to assess the patient's values and beliefs on a broad scale, to help customize the patient's care. For instance, patients with particular spiritual beliefs may be greatly comforted by certain practices or observances during their treatment.

Bibliography

"Functional Health Patterns." Current Nursing, 10 Apr. 2024, currentnursing.com/theory/functional‗health‗patterns.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Gordon, Marjory. Manual of Nursing Diagnostics. 13th ed., Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2014.

Gordon, Marjory. Nursing Diagnosis: Process and Application. 3rd ed., Mosby, 1994.

Leddy, Susan Kun. Integrative Health Promotion: Conceptual Bases for Nursing Practice. SLACK Inc., 2003.

Phelps, Linda. Sparks and Taylor's Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual. 11th ed., LWW, 2020.