Question

A five (5) year old girl is repeatedly brought to the clinic with history of diarrhea and vomiting accompanied by abdominal cramps. History taking reveals that the family stays in a crowded area with very poor sanitation. There is no toilet in their compound and the family uses nearby bushes. The family enjoys vegetable salads. The only source of water for the family and domestic animals is an unprotected nearby stream which is always infested with rotten dead animals. In addition, dirty water is discarded any how around the compound and sometimes it is used in the garden.

Use the above scenario to answer the questions that follow:

a. Explain any five (5) instructive measures you would provide to this family to stop prevent recurrences of diarrhea and vomiting. Explain your points with reasons                                                                           

b. Describe any five (5) skills required for health history taking.                              (10 marks

Answer 1

a.The instructive measures which can be provided to the family are

• Use of lavatory or toilets to void this is can greatly reduce the chance of contamination and spread of infection
• Maintaining good sanitation by boilung the water to drink ,avoid drinking contaminated water
• Encouraging to maintain good hygienic practice in home to prevent the chance of these types of infection
• Health educate and create awareness regarding safe drinking, sanitation and proper human excreta disposal
• Encourage the family to report the danger to the health department in their locality

b.Some of the skills which is required for a good health history collection are

• Good communication skill ,this can help the family members to come out with their problems
• Being empathetic and thinking from the perspective of a patient end .This can provide a in depth patient problem and needs
• Having adequate knowledge regarding the disease condition and correlating it with the patient's clinical manifestations to plan for care
• Being a good listener makes the patient to feel confident,trusting and desire to verbalize their problems
• Build a professional therapeutic relationship with the family to provide secured feeling to them.