Running head: HEALTH ASSESMENT E-FOLIO- 1

eFolio- Essential IX
Soibah Jalloh
Frostburg State University







HEALTH ASSESMENT E-FOLIO-ESSENTIAL IX 2

e-Folio- Essential IX
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essential for this e-Folio
assignment is Essential IX- Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice. A well organized
portfolio can help students showcase their professional development, achievements and latest
evidence based practice nursing decisions. It has been noted that more and more employers are
requesting a professional portfolio from potential employees and it is a requirement in many
nursing schools now. It also has been a long debate as to whether nursing is a profession or an
occupation. Well, I firmly believe that nursing is a profession! Nurses have specialized education
and training validated by professional licensure in each state. Nurses also have code of ethics and
established standard of practice that every individual should abide by, a violation of which can
result to ones license being revoked or sanctioned. So making it a requirement for nurses to have
portfolio too just like other professions will help demise the debate of nursing being a profession
or occupation. The role and responsibilities of nurses are getting broader daily and it is essential
for nurses to not only focus their treatments based on the patient presentation, but to also care for
each individual as a whole. Nurses are now required to be involved in advance professional
practice and leadership in health promotion and disease prevention. Unlike physicians that have
options to specialize in only one area of a disease process or generation, nurses are required to
learn about patients across the lifespan, from the very young to older adults and every disease
process. The nurse can later receive more training to specialize in one particular area after
completing nursing school (ANA, 2007).
Exemplar
HEALTH ASSESMENT E-FOLIO-ESSENTIAL IX 3

During the course of Health Assessment, we were asked to complete a comprehensive
health assessment on an individual of our chosen. I chose to reflect on this specific assignment
because I believe it is essential to obtain a comprehensive health assessment on patients in order
for proper treatments and or interventions to be carried out. In addition to primary prevention,
the professional nurse provides support for management of chronic illness, health education, and
patient-centered care in partnership with the patient and the inter-professional team (AACN,
2008). According to Essential IX, the baccalaureate graduate nurse should be able to
conduct comprehensive and focused physical, behavioral, psychological, spiritual,
Socioeconomic and environmental assessments of health and illness parameters in patients, using
developmentally and culturally appropriate approaches. Provide appropriate patient teaching
that reflects developmental stage, age, culture, spirituality, patient preferences, and health
literacy considerations to foster patient engagement in their care. The nurse should also
implement evidence-based nursing interventions as appropriate for managing the acute and
chronic care of patients and promoting health across the lifespan (AACN, 2008). After
completing a comprehensive assessment on my patient, I was able to identify areas that need
improvement and education was provided to my patient on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle
and disease prevention.
Reflection
The fundamental focus of Essential IX is to ensure that baccalaureate prepare nurses that
not only have the knowledge and are competent with patient care, but also understand the
importance of caring for patients as a whole in a variety of settings. This Essential includes
practice-focused outcomes that integrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes delineated in
HEALTH ASSESMENT E-FOLIO-ESSENTIAL IX 4

Essential I-VIII into the nursing care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and
populations in variety of settings (AACN, 2008). Nurses are becoming more and more involved
in the community, public health and as educators. The ability for nurses to recognize diseases
before onset and implement prevention plans for such diseases are some of the skills required for
nurses this day and age. Disease prevention also involves people being more responsible, not
only for themselves but for the community as a whole. Analysis of nursing concepts, theories,
research, planned innovation, and demonstrates autonomy and integrity are just some of the
expectations of nurses. The U.S continues to be one of the most diverse country in the world,
with that knowledge, nurses are required to pay special attention to diversity in order to provide
safe, humanistic high quality care.










HEALTH ASSESMENT E-FOLIO-ESSENTIAL IX 5

References:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education
for professional nursing practice. Retrieved from:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education/pdf/BaccEssentials08.pdf
American Nurses Association (2007). Public health nursing: Scope and standard of practice.
Silver Spring, MD: Author