Biopsychosocial Model of Care: Enhancing Patient Outcomes

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the biopsychosocial model of care, emphasizing its significance in modern healthcare practices. It critiques the traditional biological approach and highlights the importance of considering psychological and social factors alongside biological determinants of health. The essay discusses how healthcare professionals can integrate this model into their care plans to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. It illustrates the model's application through a case study of a patient with high blood pressure, demonstrating how addressing both biological and psychosocial aspects leads to more effective interventions. The essay also explores the advantages of the biopsychosocial model, such as its holistic approach and consideration of diverse perspectives. It further examines factors like stress, anxiety, and social determinants that influence health and discusses the roles of nursing professionals in implementing biopsychosocial interventions. The essay concludes by underscoring the benefits of this model in ensuring patient well-being and advocating for its adoption in various healthcare settings. The essay also discusses a case study of a diabetic patient, highlighting the importance of considering psychological and sociological factors in addition to biological ones to provide comprehensive care and improve patient outcomes. Overall, the essay advocates for the biopsychosocial model as a modern approach to healthcare, promoting patient-centered care and enhanced quality of life.

Running head: BIOPHYCOSOCIAL MODEL OF CARE
BIOPHYCOSOCIAL MODEL OF CARE
Name of the student:
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Author note:

1BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL OF CARE
For more than the last two centuries, healthcare practices have been solely based on an
assumption that all types of diseases and disorders mainly take place due to specific etiological
causes. These etiological causes include the individuals suffering from the attacks of bacteria,
virus and many others. Therefore, healthcare professionals mainly set their goals of treatment in
alleviating all the symptoms of the disorders (Benning et al. 2015). However, this approach of
healthcare treatment has now been severely criticized as the healthcare professionals are of the
belief that only attending to biological symptoms can never help the patients to develop high
quality life (Pilgrim 2015). It is also important for the healthcare professionals to consider the
psychosocial factors that also contribute to the occurrence of the disorders in the service so that
high quality care is provided to the patients. Researchers are of the opinion that instead of
maintaining a narrow focus on the biological factors that cause the diseases, health professionals
should abandon the simplistic view (Sarafino and Smith 2014). They should focus on the
psychological as well as social factors besides the biological factors so that effective treatment
can not only be provided but also the social determinants of health be considered to provide best
outcome. The essay will mainly show how bio-psychosocial model of care can ensure high
quality life in patients and how professionals should adapt them in their care plans.
Recent day healthcare professionals are expected to commit their professional practice by
following proper bio-psycho-social model of care. This model of care is seen to expect
professionals to act as effective communicator as well as an ethical practitioner in the domain of
art and science in the medicinal field. He is expected to train himself in ways by which the
professionals can analyze psychosocial aspects that are harming the health of the person beside
the biological determinants of health as well as diseases (Wade and Halligan 2017). In such a
type of care, it is expected of the professional to extend their healthcare practices beyond the

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patient where they would include both the family as well as the community and thereby
emphasize on the prevention of the illness and promotion of health along with the treatment of
the disorders.
Recent researchers are of the opinion that both behavioral as well as social aspects play
an important role in the way by which effective healthcare if provided to the community.
Psychology as well as sociology is seen to have enormous contributions for ensuring effective
healthcare education (Santos et al. 2018). An example can be used to help provide more light on
the concept of bio-pschyco-social model of care. One of the patients was admitted to the hospital
because of high blood pressure that was talking a toll on his daily life and was gradually
becoming life threatening. In such situation, the healthcare professionals should first try to reflect
on the pathophysiology of the situation. The patient has high blood pressure because his arteries
have become narrow foe which blood cannot flow easily through the arteries. They can also
assume that plaque can be also formed in the arteries for which blood is having difficulty in
flowing smoothly and resulting in increased blood pressure. Therefore, the healthcare
professionals would prescribe medications to the patients by which the blood pressure of the
patient would be under control. This is called the biological model of healthcare that mainly
includes the professional mainly approaching the treatment of the patient entirely based on the
biological determinants. However, such patient can never lead a better quality life as the
professional did not try to look for the main causes for which arteries were narrowing up
resulting in increased blood pressure. Here the professional should have tried to understand the
main psychological factor and the social factors that are resulting in the situation (Edozein 2015).
On close analysis, it is found that the patient remains highly depressed due to his stressful
professional as well as well as personal lives. He has recently separated from his wife and has

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lost his job at the same time. He has developed immense depression and anxiety. The society has
isolated him and he gets no support from anyone in the society. This has made him addicted to
tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption that had affected him negatively. Alcohol though acts
as vasodilatation are small levels can result in acting as vasoconstriction in higher level.
Therefore, both nicotine and alcohol are the main factors that result in high blood pressure.
Therefore, healthcare professionals should also try their best to provide interventions for such
situations and counsel him about how to manage such situations effectively (Weischman et al.
2018). Providing him proper resources where he can get help, helping him by providing
strategies to overcome alcohol and smoking, giving him the contacts of community care centers,
counselors and many other ensure that all his negative aspects leading to poor health are treated.
Therefore, only when the healthcare professionals utilize a bio-psycho-social model of care for
the patients, then only positive health outcomes would be ensured which will help the patients to
provide better quality life (Pincus et al. 2016).
If one closely tries to analyze the advantages of the bio-psycho-social model of care,
many important benefits can be noticed. The model if based on a holistic approach that is highly
advised by the researchers to bring out the best patient satisfaction for the patients. The model is
also based on the awareness of the levels in nature and the model is also inclusive of the diverse
perspectives. The supporters of this model states there is indeed an importance in critically
analyzing the different social as well as the behavioral factors that helps in playing an obvious as
well as major role in overall human health (Day et al. 2016). Several factors can be noted which
indeed have huge contributions in determining the health status of individuals although they can
never be considered as biological determinants of health. Researchers have identified certain
factors which need to be considered by them while sing bio-psycho-social model of care are

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stress, anxiety as well as depression in the patients, risk taking behaviors, smoking, excessive
drinking, poor eating habits, unhealthy hygiene and many others. All the factors have significant
contribution to the occurrence of ill health among the individuals thereby increasing the chances
of their exposure to the different types of disorders (Fava and Sonino 2017).
Nursing professionals should consider this model as the comprehensive model that
ensures a strengthened relationship between the health and disorders where they would be
considering the social, cultural as well as the psychosocial factors that contribute to disorders
beside the biological factors. Nursing professionals who are successful in establishing the
relationship between the immune system of the humans with that of the social, behavioral and
psychological factors that contribute to illness, they can successfully strategies planning which
help them provide best care to the patients that have the best outcomes (Henningson 2015). The
bio-psycho-social interventions that the nursing professionals will take will thereby target the
combination of sociological factors along with psychological and biological factors that results in
deteriorating condition of the patient thereby resulting in occurrence of illness. Therefore, it
becomes the duty of the nurses to take up interventions and collaborative efforts with the service
users. This will mainly integrate different types of evidence-based practices. These practices will
be such that it will encompass all the social, psychological as well as medical paradigms that will
ensure and accomplish swift recovery (Heery et al. 2015). Therefore, the main objective of the
interventions taken by the nurses would be to analyze and identify the proper cases underlying
the disorders by mainly evaluating the main reason of biological dysfunction. They should also
consider the psychological problems that will be affecting the emotional as well as mental
turmoil faced by the patients. They would also assess properly the sociological issues that will

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include the culture or religion of the patient, his marital status, financial positioning and others
that may serve as the root cause of the disorder.
During placement, a diabetic patient was admitted to the ward that had fallen down the
steps of her house. After admitting to the ward, through thorough examination of the patient, it
was known that she had faced by the accident when she developed sudden blackness. The main
reason was seen to be the reason of hypoglycemia where he had taken the dose twice that day
unintentionally by mistake. She was obese having a BMI of 50 that made her difficult to walk
and conduct daily activities of life. When she was admitted to the ward, the senior nurse just
observed her reports and turned to the junior nurses who were on placement that day. On asking
the junior nurses’ point of views, one of them stated that the patient had taken insulin two times
within very short period. Therefore, too much insulin in the blood had resulted in breakdown of
the glucose to a high level that affected the physiology of the system. Not only has that obesity
resulted in aggravation of the condition of diabetes. Therefore, according to her, the patient
should be kept under observation and should be provided medication to overcome the situation.
This view was criticized by the senior nurse who clearly suggested that the nurse followed a
biological model of treatment that does not provide a comprehensive care to the patient and does
not address to all the aspects of the patient that needs to be attended to. To this, she clearly stated
that only diagnosing obesity and hypoglycemia and then providing medical advises is not enough
to tackle the patient. She stated that the patient sociological and psychological systems should be
analyzed. The patient leaves alone in the house and remains socially excluded due to her bipolar
mood disorders. Her daughters have left her for these and her separation from grand children had
made her depressed and isolated from the society. She has not attended high school and does not
have proper health literacy about diabetes management. Moreover, she also did not have any

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knowledge about the importance of proper diet and exercises for which her obesity is constantly
on the rise. Therefore, while caring for these diabetic patients, nurses should not only help her
condition to stabilize in the healthcare center but at the same time should address all the
sociological as well as psychological issues (Shakespeare et al. 2017). She is suffering from
depression as well as bipolar disorder and therefore the nurse should arrange for appointments
with a counselor to help her overcome the mental disorders. At the same time, it is seen that she
does not have proper education about how to control her weight as well as diet. She also does not
know the importance of healthy diet and therefore proper health education should be provided to
her. The healthcare professionals should also arrange for diabetes educator who will help her to
develop knowledge about diabetes management and would have practical sessions of insulin
administrations. Moreover, proper appointment schedule should be made with her by whom she
would be given regular visits from the healthcare experts to her home. All these would help her
develop high quality life. Therefore, in this way, both the psychological as well as social aspects
resulting in the contribution of the disorder should also be treated other than the biological
determinants resulting in the symptoms (Black and Dosrtyn 2015). These would ensure best
health outcomes of the patient ensuring better quality life.
From the entire discussion, it becomes clear that bio-psycho-social model is one of the
most modern approaches of healthcare that assures the best health of the patient. It ensures high
quality life of patients because this model ensures best health and wellness of patients by proper
complex interaction of biological as well as psychological and socio-cultural factors. Only
providing interventions for the biological determinants do not ensure comprehensive care of the
patients. Those individuals in healthcare professionals who also address the social and
psychological determinants of health of the patients beside the biological determinants can

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ensure high quality care and better health outcome. Therefore, nursing professionals should try to
search for evidence based papers by which they can develop care interventions by which they
can address all the three domains of patient’s life successfully.

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