Mental health promotion

Introduction
Understanding normal child development is a critical attribute for a paediatric nurse, being able to identify normal behaviour as well as physical growth and development is needed to be able to accurately assess a patient’ (Potts &Mandelco 2007, p 13). In this case you are asked to write a 1500 word essay that considers how your knowledge of child development will influence your approaches to the child so that you are able to provide the child with a thorough assessment.

(Assignment Topic:) 1500 words(essay)€¦..
Derby Dudley is an 18 month old who has been brought to the local health clinic by her parents. You are the nurse who is performing her initial assessment.
Critically reflect on the cognitive and developmental issues that can impact on Derby’s physical examinationanIDiscuss strategies which you could implement to ensure your assessment is comprehensive.
Your reflection and discussion must be supported by current literature and evidence. You are expected to consider in your essay the cognitive and developmental issues and notthe actual assessment process.

((This essay involves a consideration of normal and abnormal patterns of growth and development during the child stages of life, and critique the factors which may impact on normal growth and development patterns (1).?Part of this process involves a consideration of the physical, psychological, and sociological influences that may increase the health risks to children (2).
In practice you would use an evidence-based approach, and assess functional status and risk in the child (3), here you need to relate these aspects in your discussion.?You would also use a person-centred approach to maintain or improve the functional capacity of the child during your assessment (4) and again we should see evidence of this in your writing.
It is important as you write that you justify and evaluate the effectiveness of risk management strategies implemented to reduce the influence of the identified risk factors (5), so you will provide evidence (references) to support your writing. Finally by writing this assignment you will be demonstrating the ability to provide safe effective patient care for young children (6) and showing your ability to communicate effectively with the child and family to facilitate provision of care and quality patient outcomes.))

Tips and Guidelines for Assignment one
€¢?Please follow the School of Nursing and Midwifery presentation guidelines
€¢?Use the Harvard referencing style.
€¢?Write in the 3rd person at all times.
Proposed Format for Writing Assignment One.?
You are expected to write an essay to answer this question and as such you will need an introduction, body and conclusion. You have 1500 words (+/- 10%) to answer the question.
Introduction of the assignment:

Usually outlines the intention of the assignment. Sets the boundaries of the assignment and may introduce the reader to the concepts that will be discussed in the essay. It is normally 10% of the word length (i.e. 150 words)

Body of your assignment ( 1200 words)
€¢?Start to unpack’ your topic. What does an 18 month assessment entail?
€¢?Derby and her parents have arrived for her 18 month assessment €“ consider ?what their expectations might be. What is the nurses role here?
€¢?What are the expected cognitive and developmental findings for an 18 month?old? You need to relate this to the question and provide support for the claims ?you are making.
€¢?What does current literature say about expected developmental ?outcomes for an 18 month old? You might like to consider the nurses expectations and how they might deal with a normal’ versus abnormal’ result?
€¢?What can impede the nurse’s process in accessing all the information required? Include discussion of the strategies that the nurse would implement to ensure the assessment is comprehensive. ?

Conclusion (150 words)
?You are required to summarise the major points in the body of your assignment. A good conclusion should relate to your introduction and needs to be specific and not made up of global, unsubstantiated, feel good’ statements. Restate the key area under exploration. A good conclusion should be about 10% (150 words) of the word allowance and contain no new information.
? References ?
It is important that references are relevant and contemporary. If you are discussing theorists some of their original work may well be old but is considered seminal and therefore acceptable. However where possible you should still try to make the information contemporary and relevant to Derby’s circumstances. Sources other than those mentioned above should normally be a maximum of seven years old since 2007 to current 2013. There is no magic number of references that you need to include. However to help simplify we will normally require a minimum 15 sources within your reference list. ?Your reference list should be in alphabetical order €“ following the Harvard system. It is expected that your reference list will include current’ refereed articles and should contain vol, no and pp in the references list. You should not to include website articles that are anonymous, from inappropriate websites or not refereed.