According to Ball et al. (2015), different cultures, populations, and groups have diverse practices and beliefs that impact their health. It is critical for advanced practice nurses and health healthcare professionals to be aware of these beliefs and practices and adapt their health assessment techniques to accommodate diversity. This work seeks to highlight diverse spiritual, lifestyle, socioeconomic and cultural factors that should be considered when building patients’ health history.
With regard to case 2, which entails a physical examination of a 32-year-old pregnant lesbian for vaginal discharge, the patient practices a rich socioeconomic and lifestyle. For example, she practices lesbianism that is associated with outgoing females. She is also able to afford the normally expensive sperms from the sperm bank. This also indicates that her cultural background loath men as she shuns sexual intercourse with male partners. She practi
...ces a controversial and risk lifestyle. This is reflected in the fact that she has multiple piercings, tattoos, and cuttings that can be predisposing factors for infections. Lesbianism, body piercing, and tattoos are associated with atheists. Spiritually, the patient does not belief in the existence of God (Qaseem et al., 2012).
While interacting with the patient, I would be sensitive when addressing issues related to marriage, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and her beliefs. This because her sexual orientation reflects that the patient has a bad attitude towards male partners and her lifestyle indicates that she is susceptible to STDs (LeBlond, Brown & DeGowin, 2009). Some of the targeted questions to build the patient’s health history and assess her health risks include:
- Have ever experienced this condition before?
- For how long have you been experiencing this condition?
- Has your partne
sought for diagnosis of this condition? If yes, what was the result of her diagnosis?
References
- Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2015). Seidel?s guide to physical examination (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier M
- LeBlond, R. F., Brown, D. D., & DeGowin, R. L. (2009). DeGowin?s diagnostic examination (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Medical.
- Qaseem, A., Alguire, P., Dallas, P., Feinberg, L. E., Fitzgerald, F. T., Horwitch, C., & … Weinberger, S. (2012). Appropriate use of screening and diagnostic tests to foster high-value, cost-conscious care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 156(2), 147–150.
