Health Care Professionals - Essay Example

"Health Care Professionals" is a wonderful example of a paper on care. The blog of the TB diagnosed individual discussed how relieved she was to know about the disease since now it could be treated and she could protect her near ones against it. She wrote “Not knowing I had TB, I could have infected my family and other close persons. And who knows how they would have responded to the invasive treatment.” The restrictions that came with the disease such as isolating herself and not going near kids were painful to her. She was stressed and scared when her close relatives were also tested for contamination. CDC regulations were tough for her. She writes “put on trial, the grown-up person I am, has to ask permission in front of a committee to leave town for a few days or weeks with the privilege of taking the pills as a free mental patient”; but she understood the importance of following all procedures and is thankful to her healthcare givers, but the memory that she did not get to see her brother before he died would always haunt her. As it was she was having problems with the treatment especially hers being a resistant strain on top of which she had money issues when the insurance company refused to bear the costs. Trust issues made her feel odd when people around her stopped interacting with her. She had to go through a lot but she was brave all throughout her journey.

If I had been given the same diagnosis perhaps my reaction would have been the same and I would be scared as well. Hundreds of questions would be crossing my mind just like they crossed the blogger’s mind as well- where did I get? Did I pass the infection to close ones? Will it allow me to live a normal life? Will I be able to attend my graduation in May 2014? How much will the treatment cost me? Even though I know TB is curable I would go through a lot of negative feelings about myself and I would be scared not only for myself or my future but for my family as well. Unlike the TB patient who was “relieved” about the detection, I barely think I would feel that.

REFLECTION

From a nursing perspective, the detection of TB in the patient and her treatment procedures were instrumental to save her and protect others. The fact that she needed to be kept isolated was important since that would help limit contamination and spreading of the disease. Her family was called for a checkup which may be scary to a patient but from a nursing perspective, it would help detect the presence of TB germs in the kids of her family and help in disease management as well. Next, complying with the CDC regulations and ensure she takes pills, attends routine checks, etc but this is really important since it ensures that the patient is being given absolute attention and needs to be cured.

Health care professionals play an important role in managing patients and ensuring high-quality care.” Empathy should characterize all health care professionals” (Larson & Yao, 2005, p1100), and in spite of the presence of technology a healing relation as this ensures a healthy environment. The patient diagnosed with TB has been positive throughout except for a few times. When her family was called for a checkup and she was anxious from a professional’s point of view she needed support. Since she had TB she had to go through emotional turmoil especially while being isolated or when her relatives stopped interaction and in such a case, being a health care professional I would explain to her and encourage her to bear through and remain positive. Perhaps her biggest need emerged when it was discovered that her infection was caused by a rare resistant strain and that normal medicines would not work on her. In such cases, the patient often loses hope and this is where health caregivers must provide encouragement and compassion where “compassion, indispensable to the caring relationships, presupposes and operates from a competence appropriate to the demands of human care (Smith et al, 2013, p172).

  Read More