Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a life-altering event. During this time, life is not only difficult for the patient, but also for their loved ones. Families must learn to cope together and to work out the best options for the patient and the rest of the family. Although it may not be fair at times, things may need to be centered on or around the patient no matter what the circumstance. (Abbott, 2003) Sacrifices may have to be made during difficult times. Many factors are involved when dealing with chronic illnesses. Coping with chronic illnesses alter many different emotions for the patients and the loved ones. Many changes occur that are very different and difficult to get used to. (Abbott, 2003) It is not easy for someone to sympathize with you when they haven’t been in the situation themselves. No matter how many books they read or people they talk to, they cannot come close to understanding.
Along with the problems of chronic illnesses themselves, many other problems may come. Treatments and medications are just the beginning of things when it comes to problems with illnesses. With cystic fibrosis, you start out with a high number of medications and treatments to begin with. The older you get and the worse your condition gets, the more you take. (“Psychological impact,” n.d.) Many struggles come along with taking these medications and treatments. When children are first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, they are typically very young. From the beginning, there are many medications and treatments that needed to be taken and done. Sometimes, trying to get children to take medications and treatments is like pulling teeth. The medications for cystic fibrosis are extremely important. If cystic fibrosis patients miss medica...
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...will be my first year of walking in the Great Strides event for cystic fibrosis at the Cleveland Zoo. In order to walk you have to make a commitment of a certain amount of money to raise for the walk. I am beyond excited to participate in this walk and I cannot wait to find other ways to help out cystic fibrosis and other chronic illnesses.
Works Cited
- Abbott, J. (2003). Coping with Cystic Fibrosis. Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine, Volume 96 (issue 43), 42-48.
-Psychosocial Impact. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cysticfibrosis.org/uk/about- cf/living-with-cystic-fibrosis/psychosocial-impact.aspx. - Rothenberg, L. (2004). Breathing for a Living: A Memoir. New York City, New
York: Hyperion.
-Withers, A. (2012). Management Issues for Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis.
Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pm/2012/134132/.
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Show More... the context of chronic illness: a family health promoting process. Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronis Illness 3, (3), 283-92.
Youth with CF also deal with more health risk behavior. These risk factors include smoking daily, using cannabis, and performing antisocial or violent acts. These risk factors usually come in clusters and increase in age. Many factors contribute to this behavior like age, gender, academic track, and parents' education level, all differences except alcohol misuse remained significant. People with CF more likely to be depressed, and more likely to rate their health as poor. The climate can also put a person with CF under more stress if ...
3. The relation between the chronically ill patient and the body is of intertwined subjectivity, of one human dignity and human strength. This is made manifest through the patient’s continued struggle for life despite awareness of dwindling quality of health and diminishing quality of life.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a very common, potentially life threatening condition. The disease is caused by inheritance, and affects the exocrine glands of the patient. Cystic fibrosis is found primarily among Caucasians and those of European descent. Those diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis battle daily to perform simple tasks, such as breathing, as the mucus in their bodies thickens immensely. This mucus will potentially accumulate in the patient’s vital organs, such as the lungs, pancreas, and intestines. One can determine if he/she has cystic fibrosis by analyzing certain symptoms. Cystic Fibrosis can be diagnosed according to the symptoms the patient shows, and can be treated through specific types of treatments, such as gene therapy.
This disease is caused by a defective gene and was discovered in the 1930's. Scientists are
Children with chronic illnesses live a lifestyle that changes, and different problems that arise, as the child passes through developmental changes up to adulthood. Using knowledge of child development a nurse can recognize regressions in the child’s development and put preventive strategies in place. Nurses can plan and implement therapeutic regimens such as given medicine. Young people with chronic illness and their families are faced with coping with the demands of chronic conditions on a daily basis. Nurses can assist parents with different coping strategies that can be used by parents to minimize impact of diagnosis. For instance, they can provide explanations to parents about diagnosis, and support, and encourage family.
Cystic fibrosis, also known as CF, affects over 30,000 children and adults world-wide. CF is a disease in the lungs and digestive system and is still incurable today. It is a disease that causes thick, abnormal mucus in the lungs, nasal polyps, fatigue, and can also damage organs in a person’s body. According to www.cff.org/aboutcf, over 70% of CF patients are diagnosed at two years of age. Cystic fibrosis is one of the most life-threatening diseases in the United States and is very common amongst chronic diseases. Cystic fibrosis is most commonly diagnosed in young children and sometimes adults.
Chronic illness can consist of a single or multiple illnesses that last over a period of time (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hansen, 2015). For this assignment, I will choose a chronic illness that could affect a patient in my nursing practice. I will discuss three ways I could promote the health of the patient and the family dealing with the chronic illness. I will end this discussion with a conclusion.
In the Shadow of Illness, the book describes different experiences of families who have or had children with cystic fibrosis (CF). CF is an inherited disease that is passed on from the mother or father who is a carrier, but doesn’t have the condition. Doctors have figured that in this scenario, the parents are likely to have a child with CF. Individuals with CF have to take Cotazymes to help the pancreas digest food. If the person does not take these enzymes, the food goes straight through them as diarrhea. Also, the person’s lungs are affected by a thick mucus that must be removed or thinned before it clogs. Doctors recommend the patient to perform daily breathing exercises that prevent the mucus from thickening; for example, swimming
In cystic fibrosis, a genetical condition that has a high population of young patients with multiple medical treatment requirements, it is of clinical importance to ensure compliance to their treatments in order to avoid a premature death. Behavioural economics can help here by addressing how we improve motivation with and perceived value of medical treatments – to improve overall patient compliance. In treatment compliance with children, up to 70% of patients with chronic illnesses have poor adherence (Haynes RB, 2002). Poor adherence to cystic fibrosis therapies may result in increased disease symptoms, decrease physical functioning, increased time in hospital, morbidity rates and mortality, as such an increased healthcare costs (Vibeke Bregnballe, 2011). Therefore the more compliant the more cost-effective treatments become, and the healthier the patients stays. It is also important to note that for every drug skipped represents a financial loss. Capgemini group reported in 2013 that the worldwide cost of non-adherence to be estimated at 564 billion dollars. So, if we get childre...
First and foremost, it is essential that health care providers remain empathetic, knowledgeable and non-judgemental towards people facing a chronic illness. This will allow the patient to feel comfortable with their health care provider and help instill a sense of trust within the relationship. Several researchers postulated that hope evolves from a therapeutic relationship between patient and care provider, within which the patient feels heard, valued and respected (Hawthorn, 2015). This idea reflects the major importance of active listening by health care providers. Throughout the therapeutic relationship, it is beyond important for health care providers to refrain from pretending to understand what their patient may be experiencing or going through in terms of their chronic illness. “Findings from an early study by (Thorne, 1990) documented that chronically ill patients and their families often found that most health care providers could not be trusted to understand the requirements of managing a chronic health condition” (Bucher, Camera, Dirksen, Heitkemper, Lewis, 2014, p.75). This finding raises an important reminder that the patients are the most valuable and knowledgeable source of information concerning their illness, and that the greatest understanding of the illness will be
A widely accepted Caucasian disease has since changed; as cases of its existence are appearing in the South Asian Population (Orenstein, Rosenstein and Stern, 2000). First discovered in 1989, Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetically predetermined condition, its presences is lifelong and highly complex, which is why many CF sufferers and families develop various mechanisms in order to adapt to the condition (Tippingemail, Scholes, Cox, 2010). Cystic Fibrosis causes the body to develop thick, sticky mucus which clogs the lungs and affects other organs in the body, mainly the pancreas. The layer of mucus if untreated develops in to a chronic infection which can be detrimental. The pancreas of a CF patient is most vulnerable, once the mucus has reached this organ, it halts digestive enzymes from reaching the intestines which aid in absorbing food, therefore affecting nearby organs (Davies, Alton, and Bush, 2007). Currently there are 9,000 people diagnosed with CF in England (CF Trust, 2011). It has been estimated that there is 1 in 10,000 South Asian sufferers in the UK alone (Kabra, Kabra, Lodha, Ghosh, Kapil et al, 2003; McCormick, Green, Mehta, 2002). Prior research-based literature that focuses on people with CF and their families covers some of the experience of living with the disease but displays some major gaps; none has specifically targeted South Asian individuals. Cross culturally this is also the case; the limited availability of CF research has influenced scientists to devote more attention in this area. For instance, information in regards to CF in Egypt is very limited; firstly CF has been believed to occur infrequently as there has not been a sufficient amount of known CF cases. Naguib, Schrijver, Gardner, Pique, Doss, Ze...
When it comes to a bad diagnosis it is often difficult for doctors to tell their patients this devastating news. The doctor will likely hold back from telling the patient the whole truth about their health because they believe the patient will become depressed. However, Schwartz argues that telling the patient the whole truth about their illness will cause depression and anxiety, but rather telling the patient the whole truth will empower and motivate the patient to make the most of their days. Many doctors will often also prescribe or offer treatment that will likely not help their health, but the doctors do so to make patients feel as though their may be a solution to the problem as they are unaware to the limited number of days they may have left. In comparison, people who are aware there is no cure to their diagnosis and many choose to live their last days not in the hospital or pain free from medications without a treatment holding them back. They can choose to live their last days with their family and will have more time and awareness to handle a will. Schwartz argues the importance of telling patients the truth about their diagnosis and communicating the person’s likely amount of time left as it will affect how the patient chooses to live their limited
...concerns appropriate interventions were assigned to each one. For the priority concern of the family’s ability to cope and their risk of depression commendation and interventative questioning were the chosen interventions. For the priority concern of Gilberts care giver burnout and risk for compassion fatigue commendation and encouraging respite were chosen. The Grape family is a fitting example of the complex difficulties a family can have when they are faced with the difficulty of dealing with a chronic illness and tragedy. This paper demonstrates the importance of assessing and creating interventions for a family in a way which includes every member of the family not only the ones with complications. Raising the question should patients who are suffering from chronic illnesses better off to be treated as an individual or as a member of a functional family unit?
Each child will probably have many different kind of health issue during his or her infancy or childhood. In addition, for some children these illnesses are mild, they come and go, and they do not have negative influence on their everyday life and development. On the other hand, for some children, there are some chronic illnesses that have a huge effect on their daily life during childhood. Indeed, a chronic health condition is a health issue that last more than 3 months, and it has a big effect on on a child’s daily life, activity, and development. As a result, it demands more hospitalizations, extensive medical care, emergency care, and/or home health care. According to Weiner, “Each year in the US, 6 million children ranging