CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

In reflecting on your original topic summary, the research article was to uncover methods of prevention against hypertension in the West Indies in adults through education and dietary modification. In reviewing the research article i noticed that it succeeded in targeting the West Indian population in which the sample chosen consisted of 28 individuals, 21 from Trinidad and 7 from the university of the West Indies. Contrariwise the main purpose of the reviewed research article was to treat patients that where already diagnosed with hypertension. Consequently the article does not particularly address the intended goal of which was to glance at a primary level of prevention of hypertension in the west indies, specifically in a target population range of 20 to 50. Research on this topic could be limited because the pathophysiology of hypertension varies in that it can be essential or secondary. In secondary the major contributing factors are smoking and alcohol and limited focus on the dietary aspect although it does play a role. Smoking of marijuana is a huge cultural thing in the West Indies. Research may be available on the prevention of hypertension in the West Indies with education on smoking cessation of the illicit drug marijuana. Such research may prove to be useful as to whether the lack of education on the detrimental effects of smoking marijuana is a factor in the increasing rate of hypertension in the West Indies and can serve as a primary intervention.

IMPACT:

I regularly thought that only over weight or obese individuals were the ones who fell victim to the disease hypertension. I felt that it was a disease based solely on your consumption of food specifically unhealthy food. In reflecting on your research topic it prompt me to do my own personal research on hypertension itself educating me on the different causes and the different affects it can have on ethnicities and genders.

APPLICATION:

I’m not sure where I want to work after I graduate but I’m sure about what I would like to do with the knowledge I would have acquired when I’m a nurse. I see now how important teaching is and the benefits of giving educational core knowledge in the promotion of someone’s health. My preference in working is somewhere in my community where I grew up. My old neighborhood is full of people who are from the West Indies. In working, when preforming my assessment I can be sure to conduct a thorough cultural history on my patients and promote related dietary education while respecting their culture and beliefs. Sadly enough people often associate modification of their diet to distasteful foods. In reading this article it was helpful to know that drinks as popular as coconut water and mauby can serve as treatment in reducing hypertension in a location where it is often drunk. Getting patients to in cooperate the good aspects of their culture can serve as a huge benefit by cutting done on the rates of so many diseases with hypertension being included. As I will not know if my patients decided to change their eating habits when they are no longer in my care, perhaps proving a survey that can be mailed back to the hospital can evaluate how effective health promotion intervention was on their decision to uses their own cultural foods as a method controlling their health.