Chronic And Complex Illness Important From A Nursing Perspective

Though acute conditions are very severe, certain preventative measures are vital when it comes to reducing chronic disease. The growing prevalence of chronic disease and the high cost of care associated with it, have forced us to take a look at the way we approach chronic conditions. The Chronic Care Model offers a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to care that is designed to minimize complications, exacerbations and worsening of the conditions.

Although the largest profession in the health care industry is nursing, a larger number of people are getting older and living longer. This means that more people will need nursing care, whether it’s in a hospital, a long-term care facility or at home. It is projected that long-term care facilities will need 66% more RNs by 2020 (Addressing the Nursing). The increase in life expectancy has amplified the complexity of health care because more people are living with chronic conditions. The American Nurses Association reported that “a large cross-sectional study of over 1,000,000 adults revealed that 82% had one or more chronic conditions” and we are seeing an increase of those age 65 and older living with multiple chronic conditions (Mion). Now, more than ever, there is a high demand for the best delivery of medical care.

Although I enjoy all facets of nursing, I truly believe that it is in the field of family practice that the foundation of the nursing process begins. I have seen many patients over the course of my career without a stable, primary care healthcare provider. Health and wellness begins with day-to-day habits, and a nurse in family care is uniquely poised to give wellness advice and guidance. Family nurse practitioners often perform similar functions to physicians: making diagnoses; prescribing tests and medications; and helping patients over the course of their life trajectories lead more fulfilling lives. Primary caregiving is truly wellness promotion. It involves not simply healing the sick, but also reducing the likelihood that patients will become ill. I have seen so many patients with preventable illnesses that could have

First of all, I recognized that I was dealing with humans, and not just dealing with a disease process and application of the nursing process in the aspect of restoring patient health. I was dealing with emotions, and families, and cultural beliefs that influenced individual’s aspects of care. I started to see that health did not just incorporate healing the disease, but also recognized the importance of making sure patient’s felt that their

Introduces and defines the topic, as well as describes its importance to professional nursing. Depth and detail are fair. (19–20 points)

Nursing revolves, not merely about looking after patients, but creating awareness in the society about self care nursing and prevention strategies and to communicate with their patients in a holistic manner, so as to satisfy their physical, mental and spiritual health needs. Various nursing theorists have repeatedly

This shift in the setting for health care is moving health care back into the patient’s environment and also requiring people to take a greater role in their individual health management. Nurses can offer professional guidance in this trend as well. Proper diagnosis and treatment will be of paramount importance in the future so that health care funds can be better applied and the nursing experience and knowledge gleaned can be more widely disseminated in the field. (Saver, 2006)

With the aging population at an all time high and continuing to climb there had been a spike in patients with chronic illness. Due to this the way in which patients are cared for and educated must change, chronic illness follows the patient out of the healthcare setting and they must be aware of how to care for themselves and their illness at home. This is a drastic shift in what healthcare used to be about, treating the acute illness. The Center for Disease Control defines acute illnesses as, severe and sudden in onset, for example a broken bone or the common cold. A chronic condition by contrast is a long- developing syndrome like osteoporosis or diabetes (CDC.gov). Treatment and education of a patient with chronic illness is at high demand and nurses must now gear their care towards these needs.

The aim of this essay is to explore an acute deterioration in the health of an adult I have encountered during a clinical placement, in an acute care setting. The essay will begin with a definition of acute care, followed by the introduction of my patient and predisposing factors. This essay will include an explanation of the significant pathophysiological changes and related clinical manifestations and a critical analysis of the nursing interventions implemented during the acute episode of care, focusing on holistic care, rationale and evidence base. It will then describe the actual deterioration in the patient’s condition, and discuss the nurse’s role in the recognition and assessment of the actual deteriorating condition following the

According to Freudberg (2013), treating the whole person is described as considering nutrition, exercise, mind-body connection, spirituality, human relationships, physical environment, and personal and professional developments (p. 3). It is a system that is focused on helping people become healthy using their own body rather than managing diseases with pharmacological drugs. Escape Fire also adds non-pharmacological treatments, disease prevention, and health promotion as part of treating the whole person (Heineman and Froemke, 2012). The root of the health problem needs to be identified in order to treat the patient effectively and prevent the patient entering the hospital. Eliminating the root of the problem will help the person to become healthy again. However, the healthcare system in the U.S. thrives on the chronic patients and does not support the patient in finding the cause of the health issue. The doctors focus on reducing the symptoms associated with chronic disease due to the limited time spent with each patient (Heineman and Froemke, 2012). Medical students and nursing students are at an advantage since they are not required to follow such strict guidelines because they are still students. The students can be the catalyst in the healthcare industry to help the

According to Roy, the Nurse using the Nursing Process, promotes adaptation responses during health and illness to free energy from ineffective or inadequate responses to increase health and wellness. Goals, mutually agreed on and prioritized, are proposed to meet the global goals of: survival/growth and promotion/reproduction of race/society/attaining full potential or mastery of self. The nurse uses activities to increase adaptive and decrease ineffective responses during illness and health. These activities alter or manipulate the client's focal, contextual and residual stimuli and expand his repertoire of effective coping mechanisms. Nursing focuses on the person as a biopsychosocial being at some point along the health-illness continuum. In contrast, medicine focuses on biological systems and the patient's

As part of the theme for the theory development for my nurse practitioner career, I chose the Nurse Practitioner Practice Model and the Symptom Management Theory. Each of these theories is unique, but have different aspects that appeal to the overall trend of my theory development. As a nurse practitioner, I see the end goal as helping people achieve their goal of health, by integrating medicine and nursing. The Nurse Practitioner Practice Model helps by giving a framework to mesh nursing and medicine together (Shuler & Davis, 1993) The Symptom Management Theory gives a framework to manage symptoms, not only by the symptoms themselves, but take in consideration the individuals characteristics (Linder, 2010). As a nurse practitioner, I feel the two coexist together perfectly. Since every patient expresses a symptom or the lack of symptoms, when seeing a nurse practitioner, these middle range theories are congruent with everyday practice at the nurse clinician level.

Hopelessness can be experienced by any individual facing a chronic illness. This hopelessness may be experienced at different times throughout the illness and may be felt differently from one individual to another. Without hope, it is difficult for any individual to cope effectively with their illness and as a result, can decrease quality of life. It is essential that patients strive to discover what gives them hope and what may eliminate it. Health care providers can intervene and help patients make these findings by actively listening to their patient and ensuring that their thoughts, fears, questions and doubts are each addressed. Health care providers must ensure that their patients needs are met, mentally, emotionally and physically, to

Diseases affects the way our body works. It is because of this fact that a lot of resources are set aside by governments around the world. Families make sure that they have insurance to help during such times when diseases strike. Therefore, it is important for us in the healthcare field to try and learn every information that is available regarding the various diseases and their process. By equipping ourselves with such knowledge and information, we become an important piece of the puzzle in trying to educate those close to us, whether our families or at our work places. Florence Nightingale, maintained that the purpose of nursing is to put the patient in the best condition so that nature can act upon them. This, I believe can be achieved

The terms illness and disease can often be used incorrectly when describing a medical condition. This is because illness and disease have several similarities; however, they are two different terms that describe different ideas. For instance, illness is socially and culturally influenced. Illness is the perception that the sick person and other social networks have as well as how they live with and deal with symptoms and or disabilities (Kleinman, 1988). Illness also includes illness problems, which are the difficulties and challenges that symptoms create in life, and language of complaints, which are both verbal and nonverbal complaints that families bring to the practitioner (ibid). On the other hand, disease is not socially influenced and focuses more on the biomedical model. Disease is a change in functioning or biological structure and it is the problem that is seen from the practitioner’s view (ibid).