Treatment of Chronic Diseases

This article discusses the treatment of chronic diseases and the factors that assist patients in changing their health status. It also highlights the barriers that hinder patients from changing their health status and the skills required to manage patients in clinical settings.

Running head: ADDRESSING CHRONICAL DISEASES 1
Treatment of Chronic Diseases
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

ADDRESSING CHRONICAL DISEASES 2
Gibbs’ reflective cycle inspires one to think analytically about the stages of an activity or
experience and one has to use all the headings to structure the reflection. I assessed all the six
patients according to Gibbs cycle and found that they had different complication which are as a
result of either inheritance or infections from the environment and what they were feeding on
(Bassot, 2015). The complications for some patients were out of negligence while for others it is
not their fault. According to the assessment the following factors were found to be of great
assistance to the patients which helps them to change their health conditions are; getting care and
assistance from their relatives, medications, taking meal as prescribed by doctors, body exercise
and monitoring their body conditions using various machines. The barriers that inhibit the patient
from changing their health status include; ignoring instructions of specialist, negligence or taking
things for granted, not taking balanced diet, lack of knowledge about the disease and medication,
and stress (Bassot, 2016).
Care and assistance given to the patient by the people they are associated with is of great
assistance in assisting them to recover from their sickness. For instance, Mrs. Palmer gets
assistance from her sister who stays in the nearby who assist her in her daily duties. In Brett case
Josen takes care of her daily by ensuring that she takes the right meal and exercise as prescribed
to help her regain her health. In Mr. Abba case, he is helped by his neighbors when he falls and
taken to hospital for a specialized attention. The care and assistance given helps the patient to
recover quickly. Medications given to the patients helps them to change their health conditions.
In Mr. Morris case he takes palliative medication for the purpose of treatment and uses morphine
and fentanyl patches to relieve pain. Ryan was given preventive and reliever inhalers to assist
him better his health conditions (Davies, 2012).

ADDRESSING CHRONICAL DISEASES 3
Taking meals as per the prescription of the specialist assist the body to function properly
and to avoid disorders that result from imbalanced diet. Upon treatment of patients they are
advised accordingly on the meals to take and the meals to avoid at all cost in order to regain their
normal body health. For instance, a patient with diabetes is advised to take food that contains
high percentage of glucose to improve his body conditions. Body exercise is another important
factor that assist patients with diabetes, obesity and other disorders to change their conditions.
For example, Mrs. Palmer has a high weight of 87kgs which can be reduced to a reasonable level
through exercise. Mrs. Perkins has obesity which is a disorder that can be eliminated through
body exercise (Bevan, Keeley, & Brown, 2015).
There were various barriers that hindered the patients from changing their life regarding
their well-being and their health. Some patients were not keen to follow the instructions of the
specialist on administration of medicine for treatment purposes hence they cannot change their
body health successfully. For example, in Mr. Morris scenario he chose not to take medications
and let nature take its course which means he is not likely to get well any soon. Mr. Brett cannot
remember the last time when he went for a tetanus injection. He also went for some antibiotics,
but took only half and stopped immediately because he felt well and did not consider taking the
medicine any more. Taking full dose is recommended because it ensures that the infection is
eliminated completely from the body (Paterson, & Chapman, 2013).
Lack of knowledge on medication and negligence also were observed to be hindrances to
the patients changing their health status. If a patient does not understand how to use the tablets
and machine or neglect some guidelines they will not be able to change the body health status.
For example, Ryan’s parents admit that they have a limited understanding of their son’s
diagnosis with asthma and the use of the inhaled medications as prescribed. This is a hindrance

ADDRESSING CHRONICAL DISEASES 4
to Ryan changing his body conditions (Dornan, Littlewood, Margolis, Scherpbier, Spencer &
Ypinazar, 2006).
Lack of balanced diet and stress are also other factors that hinder the patient from
changing their health status. If an individual take diet that lacks some nutrients he or she is likely
to suffer from lack of such nutrients in the body. For instance, Mr. Brett has been able to control
his blood glucose levels because he has not been testing his blood glucose level or taking his
insulin. Mrs. Perkins has lost her mother and this is affecting her health status and she cannot
change her well-being because of stress. I feel that the thing which contribute to patient being
unable to change their health is lack of knowledge, ignorance, lack of support and personal
preference. The ultimate solution is creation of awareness among the patients on how to manage
their conditions (Husebø, 'Regan, & Nestel, 2015).
The skills acquired include patient management, investigational skills, resuscitation
techniques and procedures, health safety and manual handling and finally clinical reasoning and
critical appraisal. These skills are of great importance to the nurse professional and will assist me
in my line of duty in future. The will assist me in carrying out the necessary assessment for
getting the appropriate feedback when approaching a patient (Herrmann-Werner et al 2013).
Management of is one of the vital functions in the clinical setup hence requires an individual to
have basic knowledge on it is carried out. The skills I have gained when participating in the lab
activities will be of great importance when it comes to the management of patients in emergency
department and other clinical setup. The skills wills also assist me in data collection and analysis
to come up with conclusive result about the patient and the documentation of the information for
future reference (Paterson, & Chapman, 2013).

ADDRESSING CHRONICAL DISEASES 5
References
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reflection. Routledge.
Bassot, B. (2016). The reflective journal. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Dornan, T., Littlewood, S., Margolis, S. A., Scherpbier, A. J. J. A., Spencer, J., & Ypinazar, V.
(2006). How can experience in clinical and community settings contribute to early
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