Early Patient Contact Issues - Assignment Example

?Early Patient Contact XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX Q In relation to a specific patient you met over the course of this module: Part A: Give a brief summary of the patient’s chronic illness. The patient in question is found to suffer from cancer. The cancer that the patient is suffering from is one that affects his abdomen making him have difficulty in carrying out various basic activities such as walking and thus using an aid to move around. The illness usually has the patient receiving regular medication to ease his pain. The dosage that the doctors have assigned to him is the consumption of 3 pills every day. In addition to this, the patient is supposed to take an iron drink, Noetamid. This is to ensure that the cancer cells are suppressed and the flow of blood in his system is constant. This chronic disease has the patient getting regular treatment and monitoring from the nurses in his nursing home. (maximum 150 words) (10 marks) Part B: Outline the impact the disease has had on the daily life of the patient and that of their families. One of the greatest impacts that this disease has had on the patient is with regard to his daily routine of taking walks and related activities. This is from the fact that the patient does not have the freedom to walk as he did prior to the disease turning chronic; however, the walking aid serves him efficiently. Moreover, the lifestyle of the man changed as the environment of the nursing home is different from the one he had before at home. Looking at the impact that this condition has had on his congregation reveals the level of importance that the situation at hand had. This is from the fact that the church has spent a lot of money in ensuring that their Father got the best treatment that they could. This was importance seeing as cancer is a very critical disease and without the required attention, it may spread to even much more vital organs that may make the patient circum. Moreover, the schedule of the church members is disrupted majorly by this issue. This is from the fact that the person under focus is a senior citizen. These people lose focus and attention as they grow older and thus the importance of having close acquaintances. For other patients in the nursing home, the children of these people are at the very least in their mid-lives and hence they are the working population, the condition that the patients have thus has the children disrupted from their regular duties on a daily basis as they have to visit them at the nursing home and see how they are doing and whether they require anything. (maximum 300 words) (20 marks) Part C: Reflect on the cultural and social factors that have affected your patient’s illness? There are various social and cultural factors that have affected my patient’s illness. One of the ways in which the cultural factor has come in major in affecting the man is the fact that the person travelled to three different destinations in a period of four years. First of all, this kind of change is rather very drastic for a person his age. This is from the fact that the man has had a specific diet from his designated doctors. However, constant change in environment particularly means a change in the culture of the person due to varying types of people in diverse environments (Brany, 2011, 13). This may come as a major factor to affect the patient’s illness and consequently slow down the pace at which he recovers from his illness. Given the fact that the man used to travel that often, it means that he has a liking for travelling around and immobility is one of his most hated aspects. This thus has him moving around a little. This culture of travelling has affected him especially from the fact that the abdomen, his ailing part might not work as effectively as required and a minimal strain makes his condition even worse from severe pains. Social factors such as settling in a nursing home have made him an even stronger person. This is from the fact that he has the ability to meet and see other patients that recover and thus gains a positive outlook towards full recovery. Having this in mind is important in that it makes the patient produce various hormones that act positively towards rupturing the cancer cells. (maximum 300 words) (20 marks) Q2: Reflecting on the whole EPC module: Part A: Outline challenges faced by people living with a chronic disease or disability. There are very many types of challenges that are faced by people with disabilities and diseases that are deemed chronic. One of the challenges witnessed is with regard to employment. This was a factor that I came to realize due to the many complains that the 35yr old diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease had. I got to understand from this that many of the job opportunities in the contemporary world require that one is fully physically fit as the economic environment does not allow for multiple employees. With a fully functioning employee, there is the ability to multitask. This thus has the employees at a very poor position in terms of employment. Another challenge that these people face is with regard to the community. Many people look at these people in a manner as to make them feel inferior which a rather negative aspect it is. This was witnessed from the abandonment of the Parkinson’s disease patient. This makes the people who have this weaknesses lose a lot of self esteem and cannot carry out their normal activities in an outstanding manner. For the people that have chronic diseases, they face the challenge of their family members dropping them off in nursing homes. Some of the family members do this in an effort to have them get better care. However, it is important to recognize the fact that there are those family members that do not have the slightest of remorse for their thoughts and may take the member to these homes as a means of getting them off their back. Understanding all these challenges is important not only for specific study groups, but also for the entire human population as nobody knows what the future bears and treating these people with respect and dignity is the least one can do for them. (maximum 300 words) (25 marks) Part B: Reflect on an ethical issue that had an impact on you during the EPC module. One of the issues that I found most concerning in the module is with regard to the manner through which the patients in the nursing home blamed the doctors for their deteriorating conditions. This is very important in that one gets to understand the various issues that the medical fraternity goes through. The patients stated that the doctors did not carry out sufficient research on their illnesses which consequently let to them carrying out wrong diagnosis and medicine administration. It was noticed that many of the doctors and nurses changed the treatment plan for the patients after realization of the conditions that they were in. A particular case is with regard to the Arthritis patient. It is widely known that patient suffering from this condition go through one of the most extensive period as many are diagnosed at a young age. This thus made this patient feel as if the doctors were not doing enough to accommodate his medical needs. In other cases in the nursing facility, there was the overwhelming and sheer ignorance carried out by the practitioners. This is from the manner in which one would go and examine a patient, fill in the form and leave without notifying the patient of the major points to note with regard to the diseases. This has the subsequent effect of having the patient’s diagnosis delayed. This form of delay is very critical provided the fact that the patient may have a chronic disease. Despite the negativity involved, there are positive cases in which the doctors carried out immediate check up and gave the patient a direct diagnosis of the problem at hand. In necessary situations, the patient’s consent was required and asked for by the doctor. The negative cases bring into question the thought of the ethics portrayed in understanding the entire running of the institution. (maximum 300 words) (25marks) References Chronic disease-[website].viewed 28th April 2013. Available from http://www.who.int/topics/chronic_diseases/en/ Starfield B. Primary. 2008. Care Balancing Health Needs, Services and Technology. 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