Chronic Illness: Impact on Individuals and Nursing Assignment

Running Head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 0
Nursing Assignment
10/17/2018

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
The essay brings about the discussion on the nursing assignment through an analysis
of the chronic illness or disease and the impact on the individuals or patients throughout their
life. Chronic illness or diseases are the cause behind the deaths of individuals at an early age.
The term chronic refers to those diseases or health problems which lasts for more than 3
months. These diseases have severe impacts on the health of an individual, which require
diagnosis and treatment timely. The common chronic illness includes diseases like arthritis,
asthma, diabetes, and some viral disease such as hepatitis C, and acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome. If these diseases last for a longer period, ending into death of the person they are
termed as ‘terminal illnesses. Chronic conditions have used in several dimensions, which
explain about different states of the human body such as impairments, disabilities,
syndromes, and diseases. To discuss about the chronic illness in context to Australia, it has
found that diabetes is one of the biggest health problems in Australia. It has observed that
more than 11 million Australians, face health issues as having 1 out of 8 chronic diseases past
few years. The chronic disease or illness for this essay taken is as ‘diabetes’ and the related
symptoms, and aspects of prevention. Adults aged ‘45-64’ are taken into consideration as the
patient group to study about the chronic disease in Australia, as the most diagnosed age group
includes which both men and women (Agard, Ranjbar & Strang, 2016).
Diabetes mellitus, also known as diabetes is defined as group of metallic disorders, in
which there are high blood sugar levels (blood glucose), over a long period of time. It may
occur due to inadequate production of insulin, or because the cells of the body do not respond
properly to the insulin or both as the cause of illness. Diabetes is considered as a long-term
condition, which leads to the high levels of blood sugar in the body. There are mainly three
types of diabetes or diabetes mellitus, Type1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and Gestational
diabetes. In the cases of Type 1 and Type 2, the body does not produce enough insulin, and
90% of the cases, are found with the Type 2 diabetes around the world. The cause for the
occurrence of the Type 1 DM is currently not known, includes symptoms such as excessive
excretion of urine (polyuria), thirst, constant hunger, weight loss, changes in the vision, and
fatigue or tiredness in the body. Type2 DM previously called as non-insulin dependent or
adult-onset results from the ineffective use of insulin in the body. It is the most commonly
found diabetes in people, as it generally results from the lack of physical exercise and
excessive body weight. Gestational diabetes is another form of diabetes, which occurs in the
cases of pregnant women who develop higher blood sugar levels, without any previous

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 2
history of diabetes. This type of diabetes occurs usually after the birth of the baby, and affects
3-9% of the pregnancies (Chatterjee, Khunti & Davies, 2017).
Diabetes is a chronic illness, as it is a long-developing syndrome, which may lead to
the health issues like asthma, and others. Adults with the diabetes, are at a greater risk of
strokes, and heart attacks, and considered as the leading cause of kidney failure. According to
the research on the subject of chronic health conditions, diabetes mellitus is categorised as
metabolism disorder. Metabolism refers to the way or process human body uses the digested
food for the energy and growth. All types of the diabetes are preventable and must be
diagnosed properly on time. A person with any type of diabetes must ensure proper diagnosis
and treatment to reduce the impact of the chronic illness on their health and wellbeing (Sav et
al., 2015).
Pathophysiology refers to the convergence of pathology into physiology, and it
defines about the functional changes that occur in the body which results from a disease or
injury to the person. Normal pathology of the human body, which discusses about healthy
people, states that the pancreas, an organ situated behind the liver and stomach secretes
digestive enzymes and the hormones, insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream, controlling
the glucose of the body. Release of insulin in the body reduces the level of blood-glucose, by
allowing glucose to enter the cells of the body, where it is metabolized (World Health
Organization, 2018).
To discuss about the pathophysiology of the disease diabetes or diabetes mellitus, it
can be stated that diabetes mellitus is a syndrome with the disordered metabolism and
inappropriate hyperglycaemia which may be due to the deficiency of the insulin secretion. It
may also be a combination of the inadequate insulin secretion and the insulin resistance in the
body of an individual. It has been studied that diabetes can lead to serious complications,
which may result in numerous diseases, and disorders leading to premature death of the
person. Type 1 diabetes mellitus, and Type 2 mellitus, and the insulin resistance. As these
terms have been described in the above description, it has been found that the Type 1 diabetes
is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. It develops in the body when the immune
system destroys the pancreatic beta cells, which are the only cells responsible to hormone
insulin to regulate the blood glucose in the body. According to the statistics, only 5% people
are diagnosed to have the type 1 diabetes, therefore they must be given insulin through the
injection or pump. The pathophysiology also states about the prevalence of the type 2

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 3
diabetes, which is the most common type of diabetes. The causes of type 2 are multifactorial
which include both genetic and the environmental factors that affect the beta cells (Inzucchi
& Sherwin, 2011).
The occurrence of the type 2 diabetes can be prevented through adopting a healthy
lifestyle, which includes healthy eating habits, regular physical exercise, avoiding smoking,
or alcohol, and maintaining a healthy body-weight. These are some of the ways a person can
prevent or delay the onset of the diabetes over a period of time. In context to the country
Australia, it has found that the diabetes is the chronic condition, which is increasing at a
higher rate than other diseases, cancer, and the heart diseases. Therefore, it shows that the
prevalence of the diabetes in Australia has increased many folds, that is found higher in the
men than the women (Zaccardi et al., 2016).
Some of the facts, which relate to the prevailing condition of the health of people in
Australia describes that around 280 Australians develop diabetes every day, in every 5
minutes. All the types of diabetes are prevalent in the country at different rates, i.e. Type 1
diabetes accounts for 10 % of all the diabetes, and are increasing continuously. In addition,
Type 2 diabetes is found to be the 85% of all the diabetes and increasing constantly and
similarly, gestational diabetes is prevalent amongst women in Australia. It has been stated by
the researchers that if the diabetes continue to increase at the current rate, then the Australians
over the age of 40 will develop severe health issues in the coming years. The federal
government has declared diabetes as the National health priority back in the year 1997. The
policy aimed to initiate programs to monitor and improve the diagnosis, prevention,
treatment, and management of diabetes in Australia (O’Reilly et al., 2016). .
Chronic conditions or illness has complex and multiple causes, which are generally
long-term and persistent with the lives of people. Diabetes leads to the impairment, ill
functioning, and disabilities in people, thereby affecting the quality of life. Diabetes has a
considerable influence on the health and the functional status of Australia affecting the life
expectancy and quality of life as well. It is a chronic condition, which leads to a major impact
on the health and the status of wellbeing of individuals. According to the research, the
relationship between the components of disability and diabetes in Australia has been found
largely in the recent years. Complications due to diabetes lead to the conditions of
disabilities, which include foot complications, eye disease, kidney related disease, and cardio-
vascular diseases. It has been analysed that as per the population of Australia, disabilities are