GenoPro: A practical solution for Nurse Practitioners
GenoPro offers a solution for gathering medical and psychosocial information
from your patients in an accessible format. As a result of using GenoPro,
you will have a better understanding of the context of the symptoms your
patients present during their medical visits.
The nurse practitioner from any area of practice, such as primary care,
women's health, paediatrics, geriatrics, psychiatry, and in any setting,
such as hospitals, clinics, schools, industries, communities and home,
requires a tool that provides a comprehensive assessment of the patient and
the factors that affect their health. Nowadays, Nurse Practitioners play a
large role in evaluating patients and detecting problems. In some rural
areas, nurses admit patients to hospital and manage their care, referring
only the most critical patients to distant medical centres. In all these
situations, the medical genogram is a valuable tool that can be used by
nurses to provide a comprehensive, holistic picture of the patient and his
environment.
GenoPro allows you to create medical genograms that go beyond the simple
medical pedigree. Standard symbols and codes have been developed so that
genograms can be read and interpreted systematically like an
electrocardiogram. You may also develop your own symbols as seen in the
legend below. GenoPro also allows you generate detailed reports with a
simple click of the mouse.
Medical genogram symbols examples
Genetics
GenoPro allows you to understand the genetic disposition of individuals for
certain diseases. The genogram graphically portrays inherited risk for
specific health problems and suggests strategies for the assessment and care
of these health problems. For example, a 30-year-old woman with a breast
mass and a family history of premenopausal breast cancer would require early
mammography and extra patient education and reassurance. Displaying family
illness patterns can pave the way for patient education about lifestyle
modification. Highlighting a family tendency to develop diabetes and
hypertension may provide you with a tool to promote well-being and to
encourage the patient to exercise regularly and lose weight.
Family
Genograms also provide a visual display of the family and the complexities
of family relationships. They provide a quick visual reference of various
categories of family information that has been shown to play a role in
illness: family structure, pattern repetition in families, family
relationship patterns, and family balance and imbalance. For example, a
genogram may demonstrate that a 21-year-old male patient who suffers from
severe anxiety attacks was abandoned by his mother at the age of six,
underlining key issues to discuss in patient counseling. Displaying family
relationships communicates strongly to the patient that you believe family
factors influence health, that you understand that illness affects the
family, and that you are open to discussions on family matters. They will
also give you a tool for assessing the possibilities for home care. For
example, a 78-year-old widowed woman who is having difficulty with
independent living and who has a son with whom she has a hostile
relationship and an estranged daughter who lives overseas will require
social assistance and placement in a community care centre as family support
cannot be expected.
A practical solution
Genograms can be done during the initial visit with almost every new
patient. Doing a genogram puts patients at ease by elevating them from the
subordinate patient role into a more comfortable role of expert (on their
own families). The ability of the elderly client to actively participate in
the genogram process can also give assessment data about the client's
functioning in sensoriperception, memory, functional communication, fine
motor skills, and behavioral domains. Once a genogram is entered in the
medical record, it provides a highly organized and easily visualized method
of displaying and communicating information to other health-care
professionals, such as the specialists you may refer your patients to. The
genogram is an assessment tool that enhances intervention strategy and
communication in the patient's record. It augments treatment planning, care
provision, health promotion and prevention, as well as cost management. By
using GenoPro, you will be able to quickly evaluate what needs can be
satisfied by family resources and what medical and social resources will
need to be provided.
For more details, consult this article by the American Family Physician
Journal:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20050801/441.html
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