Assessment is fundamental to nursing. Utilizing the functional health patterns as a tool to help obtain information about the patient's health history will help the nurse to get an accurate picture of the patient's overall health. Many conditions, such as pancreatitis, are caused by the patient's lifestyle choices. Assessing whether the patient has history of alcohol or drug abuse will help the nurse to identify potential problems that the patient may experience. In pancreatitis, alcohol and drug abuse are common associated factors. Knowing this, the nurse can look for specific signs and symptoms associated with pancreatitis. With this diagnosis, the functional health patterns will reveal problems with nutrition-metabolic patterns, health perception, and potentially coping if the individual uses drugs and/or alcohol as a coping mechanism. Understanding the functional health patterns that are affected by the patient's current health status can clue nurses in on potential problems that the patient may encounter as a result of certain diagnoses.

How do you currently integrate a functional health pattern into y our assessment? Do you find the structure of a functional health pattern helpful