Students are required to submit weekly reflective narratives throughout the course that will culminate in a final, course-long reflective journal due in Topic 10. The narratives help students integrate leadership and inquiry into current practice.

This reflection journal also allows students to outline what they have discovered about their professional practice, personal strengths and weaknesses, and additional resources that could be introduced in a given situation to influence optimal outcomes. Each week students should also explain how they met a course competency or course objective(s).

In each week’s entry, students should reflect on the personal knowledge and skills gained throughout the course. Journal entries should address one or more of the areas stated below.  In the Topic 10 graded submission, each of the areas below should be addressed as part of the summary submission.

1. New practice approaches
2. Interprofessional collaboration
3. Health care delivery and clinical systems
4. Ethical considerations in health care
5. Practices of culturally sensitive care
6. Ensuring the integrity of human dignity in the care of all patients
7. Population health concerns
8. The role of technology in improving health care outcomes
9. Health policy
10. Leadership and economic models
11. Health disparities

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Please reply to the following discussion with one reference. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Cite resources in your responses to other classmates.  

KBY Discussion:

Why is developmental assessment essential in the provision of primary care for infants, children, and adolescents, and what are the essential components of this assessment on the basis of this child’s age?

Development assessments are important especially to primary care providers as they guide parents, guardians and caregivers into stages of development of their infant’s children and adolescents. It allows parents and guardians to adjust their expectations at each stage of development and to know their role when providing care during each stage. The assessment is o ensure that they are developing normally at each stage and to identify developmental red flags and recommend appropriate care and guidance if such was to be observed (Burns, et al., 2019). The child in the case study is a newborn and is established as small for gestational age as he fell below the 10th percentile for age (Tinguely, 2021). A complete head to toe assessment is needed to ascertain normality and to rule out any birth defects. Initial assessment include APGAR Score (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration ) which should be evaluated 1 to 5 minutes of birth. A healthy baby should score between 8 and 10. Evaluate body temperature, evaluate lungs to ensure full expulsion of amniotic fluids and ensure the infant is breathing properly. Assess the umbilical cord. The normal umbilical cord contains two thick-walled arteries and a single thin-walled vein. A single umbilical artery is usually associated with congenital anomalies e.g., cardiac, renal (Burns, et al., 2019).

Which tools will you use to assess specific components of development (such as speech, motor skills, social skills, etc.)? Which tools do you think are the most accurate in assessing the developmental components and why?

Tools I would use to assess specific components for development such as speech, motor skills, social skills, etc are the Ages and Stages Questionaires ASQ:SE-2 and ASQ-3. The ASQ:SE-2 which is a social-emotional screening tool that screens for social emotional development, self regulation, compliance, social communication, adaptive functioning, autonomy, affect and interaction with people. This assessment is conducted at 1month-72 months old. Another tool the ASQ-3 which is a developmental screening tool that assess for developmental communication, gross and fine motor skills , problem solving and social and personal development. This assessment is conducted at 1-5.5years of age (Hay, et al., 2020). Another comprehensive screening tool that assess both developmental and social developmental is the Battelle Developmental Inventory, edition 2 (BDI-2). This tool assesses children from birth-8 years of age and screens for early childhood developmental milestones, measures personal-social, adaptive, motor, communication, and cognitive ability (Burns, et al., 2019).I would choose the  Battelle Developmental Inventory, edition 2 (BDI-2) as it provides a holistic early childhood assessment growth and social skills development from birth to 8 years of age.

Which components would you consider in assessing the basic biological functioning and well-being of your pediatric patients? Why are these components important in providing primary health-care services to children?

Physical, medical and neurodevelopment examination are essential to assess for the biological functioning and wellbeing of pediatrics patients. These include assessing for developmental milestones such as language, motor skills, visual, spatial, attention and social abilities. Assessing for neurological disorders such as ADHD and any form of mental retardation. Medical assessment includes assessing for poor weight gain, any hospitalizations, metabolic disease and exposures to environmental toxins such as lead. Children diagnosed with chronic diseases such as Otis media, hyper or hypothyroidism and chronic renal failure can impact normal development. Knowledge of the child development or acute or chronic diseases are important to providing optimal care to optimize the child well being (Hay, et al., 2020).

References

Burns, C., Dunn, A., Brady, M., Starr, N., Blosser, C. (2019). Burns’ pediatric primary care (7th ed.). Saunders. ISBN:

9780323581967.

Hay, W., Levin, M., Deterding, R. Abzug, M. & Sondheimer, J. (2020). CURRENT diagnosis and treatment: Pediatrics (25th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-1260457827.

Tinguely, S. (2021). Pediatrics 01: Newborn male infant evaluation and care. Retrieved from https://southu-nur.meduapp.com/document_set_document_relations/30216?section_uid=root