Take a moment to think about how a patient feels when they are diagnosed with a lifelong illness. Think of a family member or a friend who has diabetes, or multiple sclerosis, maybe Alzheimer’s, or COPD. There are many different questions that your loved one had when they were told they were sick. “Is this going to be painful for me?” “How are others going to treat me?” “How am I going to pay for this?” But mostly they want to know, “How is this going to impact my life?”
We should also be aware of the grieving process they are experiencing, the loss of their former life without the disease, and always help to comfort them.
Medical care and pharmaceuticals are important commodities that individuals can utilize to enhance their health. For many people, doctor’s visits may only be necessary for brief sicknesses or a yearly checkup. However many people are dependent on long term medical attention for chronic diseases and associated symptoms. These patients require daily prescribed medications to treat their illness or prevent complications. As future nurses, along with other healthcare professionals, it is crucial to be well versed on chronic illnesses such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and others that will be frequently encountered in the field. Having, as well as, treating a chronic disease is a complicated issue with many considerations.
Assessing the patient is vital to diagnosis and treatment of any illness or injury. As nurses, we must be able to interpret our patient’s signs and symptoms; we must know what each symptom is caused by or possibly indicates. A general example, if a patient presents with abdominal pain we must assess whether the patient is having appendicitis, a tubal pregnancy, GI bleeding, pelvic inflammation from an STD, a drug interaction, or just gas. Therefore, knowing the most common chronic diseases and their associated drug therapies we can conduct a more thorough assessment to diagnose any problems that arise.
A large portion of the nurse’s role is to console and teach our patient’s about what they do not know about their sickness. Therefore we should be knowledgeable of:
• the pathophysiology of the disease process
- the cause of the disease
- how the disease runs its course
- what symptoms to expect: on a daily basis or a special case
• treatments: drugs and procedures
- what does the drug do?
- how does the patient take the drug?
- with or without food
- time of day
• how to prevent complications and symptoms (Acute care/ Long term care)
- daily actions to take
- diet modifications
- quitting smoking
- drug interaction warnings
Aside from the strictly treatment-based focus, we must always anticipate our patients emotional, spiritual, and financial lives which can also have an affect on the course of action a patient will take with their health.
How do finances affect a patient’s treatment?
I briefly mentioned the patient’s concern for the cost of drugs and treatments. This is a huge issue for many people across the world. Often, economic struggle seems to take precedent over our health. If a person cannot afford their medication they may stop taking the drug. This could be hugely detrimental to their health. It is important for us as nurses to be aware of the costs of drugs (and possibly ask if our patient has health insurance?) to anticipate such a situation. We should also urge our patients to always talk to their doctor about any medical issue, even if it is financially based, as there are in some cases generic brands that could lower the financial burden.
This is especially true when the patient does not approve of the effect of the drug they are taking. In some cases a patient will not experience a therapeutic effect from the medication that they are taking. Patients sometimes stop taking their medications because they do not think that they are working. They figure if the drug doesn’t make a difference then why pay for it?
In other cases a patient cannot tolerate the side effects of a medication can therefore stops taking the drug. This should be strongly discouraged! As we will see, this can be deadly! Patients should again be encouraged to talk to their doctor before stopping treatment.
This blog will be a broad discussion of the various chronic diseases. We decided that in order to best display these problems and any possible solutions, we will focus on specific chronic illnesses, the drugs involved with them, and any of the issues related to these drugs. So just check out the different pages we’ve created for an assortment of chronic illnesses. We hope that this proves useful for you! Enjoy, and let us know what you think.
I think it is important to discuss several chronic diseases because they are so prevalent in our society. Everyone probably knows someone with one if these diseases, or someone taking medication to manage a disease. It is beneficial to be informed on all the information regarding these major diseases. I am interested in reading about certain diseases, and to see the information that goes along with it. My grandparents and aunts and uncles might find this useful too, seeing as diabetes and other illnesses run in my family. I would like to read up on illnesses that might affect me in the future, and get to know them beforehand…so I can prevent them or catch them early on.
Katherine Stacey
Well thought out and does well at explaining the reasons to be a well-rounded, empathic, and sensitive nurse.
realizing what todays healthcare needs is a very important trait in the nursing field. understanding that it is not all bandaides and lollipops, and actual work day in and day out, and that it is more than just perscribing a medicine, It is someones life that is being molded by their health situitaion. The nurse field directs that mold by being aware of one’s feelings and having a complete know how of their medicial issue at hand. whether it be a broken arm, to terminial cancer. The nurse if a vital piece of the mechanics that make healthcare a tolerable experience.
Great nursing implications! Many people worldwide suffer from these chronic diseases, and may feel alone in their struggle, especially if they don’t know anything about their disease. It’s the job of the nurse to help them by good teaching, and go beyond just treating the disease. I believe that was emphasized very well.
No one wants to find out they have a lifelong disease. Helping a patient through these adjustments is essential for their long term care and survival.
Christina – I greatly appreciated you sharing your thoughts from a nurses point. Having a chronic illness it is wonderful to see we have caring individuals entering the medical feel that really do get it as it relates to our daily lives, physically, financially and spiritually. It is obviously you have found your calling. Stick with it girl.
Christina – excellent read. I enjoyed every bit of it. What I found to be most interesting was when you touched on the fact that patients don’t feel like their medicine is working, so they just stop taking it. I know a lot of people who have done this, and, as you have said, it can be very detrimental to their health. I think it is also important to consider that although they may not stop taking it altogether, they may throw out the consistency so vital to some of these treatments. Some people feel as if it is “no big deal” to miss a dose, and in some cases – they are dead wrong.
Some of this is common with people with emotional disorders. Since the medicine does not make them “feel” all that different and takes a little while to titrate to an effective level, the changes go largely unnoticed. Sure, at some point a large burden or their struggles, hyperactivity, sleep problem or whatever else may have changed, but since the changes are not sudden, they can easily be accredited to other factors. Over a period of time, a patient may even feel that they have gotten better and decide to stop taking the medication. I know we both suffered the loss of a good friend due to this sort of thinking.
This is just something to watch for when you are serving God’s children as a nurse. I love the thought of you dedicating your life to keeping people happy and healthy. I look forward to seeing and hearing about all the wonderful things you are doing. You are a talented young woman, and you have picked an outstanding career