Having the family participate in the assessment can give key information on how and why functional patterns are. There could be financial concerns why the patient is overweight, why the patient doesn't take medications or is aware of medication regimen. The patient can be altered or could have dementia and unable to care for themselves and therefore family is left to care for them. Many, many times, i have admitted patients who have no idea why they take certain medications, unaware of their diagnosis' or medical history and so they don't see the importance of following a certain diet, avoiding certain foods or medications that are contradicting with current medications. Family should be assessed as well as it can tell a lot about the functional patterns of the patient.

What special techniques have assisted you in integrating families into your patient assessment?