David Karp Understanding The Sick Role

In Bed Number Ten, Sue Baier shares her first-hand account of both her painful experiences and her lengthy recovery in the ICU setting. She was struck with the disabling effects of Guillain-Barre syndrome which resulted in her being admitted into an Intensive Care Unit. While there, her communication and mobility was very limited and made it very difficult for many of the staff to passionately and effectively take care of her. She describes multiple accounts of nurses and staff who were task oriented and failed to meet her physical and emotion needs. Her sense of isolation and inhumane treatment transpires from the pages to the heart of the reader. However, in the book, we observe a few staff that were sensitive to her condition and took care of her the way a person should be taken care of. Sue’s hardship and experience is one of perseverance in her time in the ICU and gives an outlook of how to be sensitive to critical care patients, as it should be.

Those with a devastating illness often have a need to tell their stories. How can others ensure that they are able to tell their stories, and how does telling one’s story impact the way patients are treated?

The data was obtained through interviews, direct observation of interactions in the ICU, during family conferences, and by observing informal conversations between the patients’ family members and health care providers, which enhanced the validity of the study. The study states that there were 315 hours of ICU interactions observed and the interviewers used a standardized format for recording the field notes and transcribed

Some family members seen family presence not only as an essential right but likewise as a mode of giving support to their loved ones in this emergency of life crisis. Though, some family could have concern about feeling sensitively traumatized and beholden to observe the code when families may prefer to decline. Patients besides believed that the family had the right to have their families present. Some patients alleged to felt safer and less frightened when family was present. But, other patients described that they desired to face death alone and did not want estranged folks to be permitted to invade their own privacy. Healthcare workers seen family presence as an occasion to preserve the self-respect and personhood of patients but be frightened physical assault by distressed family members, augmented threats of legal responsibility and subsequent litigation, and loss of control above the code situation. Captivatingly, all parties involved arranged that family presence during the code could result in exposing patients to extended resuscitations in medically fruitless circumstances because the trauma team may be unwilling to call the code in the presence of the family of the patient. In the past decade, nurses have progressively promoted for family presence. Nurses mostly agree that family presence could be favorable for both patients and families, if patients and families wish it. For the reason of this belief, nurses endure to advocate for their patients by making an effort to revise policies that limit family presence in the

What was once believed to be a form of neglect has resulted in a change in practice with the idea that doing less is more. Culture is an important factor in how care is rendered and thus, the limitations of palliative and hospice care lie within the desires of the family and patients. A thorough understanding of our surrounding demographics helps to ensure a seamless approach to providing care without bias or imposition of ones beliefs. However, just as with all things, providing care for the sick and comforting the dying should be rendered in moderation as to prevent the effects of burn out. Likewise, the same effects occur in the caregivers who sacrifice their responsibilities in order to care for their love ones. Finally, and with some closing thoughts, the writer wishes to express with gratitude the benefit of having taken this course to better understand oneself and others in the realm of healthcare. The lessons learned throughout have expanded this writer's knowledge and understanding of the human desire to make a connection through communication, emotion, compassion, and spiritually - the platform from which this writer wishes to continue seeking further knowledge and

Barbara Ehrenreich, Audre Lorde, and Meri Nana-Ama Danquah’s illness narratives do more than recount stories of illness. The narratives depict resistance to normalization or becoming normate by making visible the larger structural inequities. The narratives are showing how the systems that are supposed to aid and heal those who are ill, but are actually reinforcing the inequities.

The sick experience a different type of love before they die, "It is the time of change, the saving hour” (Sarton L32). Fear no longer drives comfort and love away, but love dominates and brings people together: The word is not fear, the word we live, but an old word suddenly made new, as we learn it again, as we bring it alive. (Sarton L33-35). People must open there eyes and accept things that happen.

In his book, Dying Well (1998), Dr. Ira Byock artistically brings a sense of humanity and compassion to a topic so often dismissed and silenced: death. Dr. Byock’s personal experience with his dying father shaped his views on caring for terminally ill patients. Through his father’s death, Dr. Byock recognized the importance of familial support, how to communicate openly, and to make the last moments of one’s life meaningful. These lessons are evident in his telling of Anne-Marie’s, Douglas’s, and Janelle’s prospective end of life stories.

Having a family member unexpectedly in ICU can be a painful and difficult time. Evidence based practice demonstrates that when a member of their social system is compromised, the entire family is disrupted. The unfamiliar environment leaves family members in severe stress and in a state of shock. Family members also require attention and needs to help cope with the stress of a family member in intensive care unit. These needs are grouped into five categories: receiving assurance, remaining near the patient, receiving information, being comfortable, and having support available. There should be

Sharing and listening to the illness narratives in class is an experience that I do not think I could ever forget. Listening to people share their raw emotions and stories of struggle and illness was eye opening, My own illness narrative could be described as a quest narrative and more specifically an automythology. This is because as I stated in my presentation, I became a better person, adopted skills that helped me deal with my father’s illness, understood what it is like to have someone close to you change due to a disease. The illness narrative allowed me to express the dis-ease of my family and my dad due to his disease.

Life is full of complications and unexpected events. Some complications and events can be favorable however; a few of these complications and events can have detrimental effects to not only the person but the family and friends too. In the book Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius (2012), when Martin was 14 he arrived home with a sore throat that he never recovered from. This complication from Martins’ illness affected not only Martin but also his family, along with childhood friends. In this paper, I will discuss Martin’s experience of illness, Martin father as his caregiver and an analysis of Martin’s experience.

Keath was fourteen years old at the time. His own middle school graduation was later in the week. I hadn’t thought that he was sick at all this day. An infection for him could be fatal. My brother was born with only half of his heart functioning. Several surgeries dotted his first few years of life. I didn’t even meet my brother until almost a month after he was born because he was so sick. Over the years, doctors had been able to figure out how to rework his heart so it would function, but my brother was still fairly fragile. My mom worried over even the smallest of colds. Nothing could have prepared me for this sudden hospitalization. All of the joy and excitement of the day flooded

Mike Bury (2001) has undertaken a considerable amount of research on illness narratives and its different forms. Illness narratives and narrative analysis can be evaluated through three different types. The first is contingent narratives, ‘which address beliefs about the origins of disease, the proximate causes of an illness episode, and the immediate effects of illness in everyday life’ (Bury 2011, p. 263). Secondly, another form of narratives are moral narratives, which ‘provide accounts of (and help to constitute) changes between the person, the illness and social identity, and which help to (re) establish the moral status of the individual or help to maintain social distance’ (Bury 2011, p. 263). Lastly, Bury defined the third form of

Throughout the readings, I realized each story display a different aspect of the patient-caregiver relationship. Before reading my thoughts were very limited on what a patient-caregiver relationship consisted of. From my perspective, I thought that caregiver is the doctor or nurse that is caring for someone who is sick. As I continued to read the stories and reading the discussion post each week, I realized that this is not always the case. The caregiver can be family, friends or anyone who is tending care to someone in need. I also learned the patient does not always have to be sick. Better yet the caregiver and patient roles can be interchanging between those in the relationship depending on the circumstance. According to recent reports, caregivers have “much or greater emotional distress than the patient themselves” (Mosher, Bakas, & Champion, 2013). In “People Like That…” the patient- caregiver relationship was distant. From this story, I realized that not all caregivers will have the patient’s best interest at heart. In this story, the mother and the son were both patients. The doctor would rarely answer any of the mother’s questions regarding her child's illness. Due to the healthcare professionals disregard to the feelings the mother was having it came to a point where the mother was afraid to ask a question because she did not want to become and annoyance to the doctors.

I remember all the tubes connected to him and all the machines he was attached to. His face discolored and his body clothed in a white hospital gown. It was so strange to see my lovely grandfather look so vulnerable and sick. I felt so powerless seeing him there. I wanted to speak to him, but I couldn’t conjure any words. My throat was in a knot and my lungs felt heavy. I cannot remember the last time I felt so suffocated.