Following Medical Advice : Unit 8 Discussion

Physicians for elderly patients lack communication with each other. If the physicians lack high level communication, then prescribed medicines may have an adverse effect on the elderly. The elderly, often times, have cognitive problems, which makes it difficult for the elderly to understand instructions for prescriptions. This can cause a serious issue in this particular population.

Standing (2011), defines clinical decision-making as a complex process that involves observation, gathering information, critical thinking, evaluating evidence, applying necessary knowledge, reflection and problem-solving skills. Every day nurses make important clinical decisions and these decisions have important implications for patient outcomes and deserve serious consideration. Therefore, it is important for nurses to have a better insight of the decision-making process, be able to deliver holistic care and meet essential and complex physical and mental health needs of the patient.

To have quality of care within the health care system, effective communication is needed. Barriers arise when effective communication is not meet, patients with limited English proficiency are at risk for misdiagnosis, poor treatment decisions, trust between provider and patient is not there, and patients to not adhere to treatment plans and follow up if they do not understand what they need to do (Regenstein, Mead, Muessig, & Huang, 2009).

If an individual expresses that they want to discontinue their medication and becomes non-compliant with their medication then it is my role to identify the risk they are currently posing and update their risk assessment; inform their CMHT and let the citizen know of the consequences to them not taking their medication and reiterate that it is their choice, as long as they have all the information to make a decision (wise or unwise). It is important to emphasise that not all individuals understand information the same way, therefore I have found that the use of internet, booklets, music, audio recordings, talking group therapy and pictures can be applied to explain a situation to a resident if they are unsure of particular consequences to their health.

Patient Adherence: There is no known cure for chronic disease, the progressive nature of chronic disease the patient and family must adjust to continual treatment changes, and the chronic disease continues throughout the patient’s lifetime developmental and lifestyle changes often influence or pose additional challenges to the person with a chronic

What happens if you come upon a patient that is being difficult and refuses to follow your directions? If I was I this situation, I would let the doctor

Lacking explanation or miscommunication for changes in the treatment plan or level of care can cause many medical errors and result in patient harms. There are complaints from patients, and their families regarding nurses do not spend the time to inform them of their daily medical conditions and help them to understand their diseases,

Good communication between physician and patient is vital for a patient to make an informed choice regarding their care.

In conclusion, addressing the problem of non-adherence would help alleviate the burden of added costs to healthcare. When patients take their medications as prescribed, they are considered to be adherent. Adherence has two components that are complementary to each other: persistence and implementation

“Against Medical Advice” is a book about a family who care for their son, Cory, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, Severe Anxiety Disorder, Depression and Seizures. Cory takes around fifty to sixty medications to treat him, and not one of which actually works. The only thing that helps him cope is alcohol. The story is told in the eyes of Cory which brings a unique form of storytelling to the table. It tells the story in the eyes of one who is mentally ill rather than a normal person we are all used to reading about. It is the hope of Cory and his parents to make his condition better so he can become sane again.

A physician cannot force a patient to undergo a procedure or treatment against his or her will. Physicians must make informed refusal an integral part of their informed consent process. Physician should understand what patients' needs and balance between the psychological need and social and physical health. Sometimes, the stress environment of the doctor made him frustrated and they don't spend enough time with their patient to get the optimum information and don't show interest about patients’ psychosocial problems. When a patient feel that their doctors have a lack of knowledge of other treatment options may also contribute to why patients refuse our treatment plan. Good physician-patient relationship allows a trusting relationship to develop. Most patients will agree to doctors’ treatment strategies if they have a good communication and patients are kept fully informed by their

What if every other person that received help from a healthcare provider left the health facility and did not comply with anything the provider told them? The patient did not take the medication as directed, if at all, did not follow-up in 2 weeks to ensure adequate treatment and never improved, or did not care for their surgical wound, leading them to being hospitalized for sepsis. What is the point in going to seek help, if the patient is not going to do what it takes to improve? As emphasized in the American Medical Association (AMA) video, nearly one-half of Americans do not have the skills to overcome the barriers to health literacy (2010). “Health literacy is the ability to read, understand, and act on health information.” (AMA, 2010) Taking this into consideration, who is to blame, the patient who did nothing the provider told them to, or the provider who did not ensure understanding of the information given to the patient nor emphasize the importance of compliance and risks? Patients do not visit healthcare facilities to cause themselves more confusion and continued suffering, they are seeking advice and assistance, trusting that the provider will be able to deliver care in the most appropriate manner no matter the circumstances. Although many of these health literacy barriers are out of the provider’s control, such as the inability to read or memory impairment, this does not denote that there are not many ways to overcome

I agree with Dishman's statement that most patients, myself included, are passive patients. In many of my health care classes, we have talked about the patient versus provider roles, this is called Paternalism. According to PubMed, "paternalism is described as a dominant attitude of one over another. It was widely practiced years ago because clinicians were expected to make the best decision for the patient (Gallagher, 1998)." Basically, if a doctor said to do something, you did it, no questions asked. In recent years, this model has changed and more people have started questioning their doctors decisions and becoming more informed. I believe this has since changed with the implementation of informed consent. This means that the patient must fully understand what they are agreeing too. As a health care professional, I believe asking the patients if they have any questions and explaining everything as well as I can will help them become active participants.

The provision of written medication information given to the patient helps significantly in cases of medication non compliance (McGraw & Drennan 2004). This is because it aids in memory retention and presents patients with access to a reliable source of concise medication information, particularly if the patient needs to be reminded of certain aspects (Gorgos 2006). These written medication information sheets need to be provided in the patients primary, dominant language because it reduces the difficulty and limits barriers to patient understanding (Gorgos 2006).This is important because this intervention aims to increase a patient’s understanding of their medications, and when a patient feels more competent with the use of their medications, reduced

This is because the majority of the patients do not understand the language doctors’ use. For example, when the doctor stated that, when the doctor told the mother of the child that, they would try something different in the four days’ time. He did not tell her to stop giving the child the medication recommended for him. Instead, he wanted her to continue giving the medication until that four day time while they monitor his situation. I wish the doctor had used simple language like continue giving him the medication while we are monitoring his situation then we shall try something little different if the situation persists. This would have been easy for the mother of the child to understand. Thus, doctors should avoid using complicated language while communicating to patients.