Living With Chronic Illness, Research Paper Example

Working with patients with chronic illnesses demonstrates the difficulties of these diseases and what is required to improve quality of life and overall wellbeing for these patients. This population faces a number of critical challenges that require significant attention and focus in order to address the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs of these patients and to address long-term health status. The healthcare system plays a critical role in how patients with chronic illnesses receive regular care and treatment, and many patients struggle in this regard because they experience limited benefits due to cultural barriers and other limitations. Patients may be limited by their lack of support or guidance from the healthcare community that may impact their health in many ways. Patients may experience language barriers, may lack the respect that they deserve in healthcare settings, and may be unable to overcome common misconceptions regarding their health that have a direct impact on their ability to receive high quality care and treatment on a consistent basis. Due to the nature of the healthcare barriers that these persons often experience, a divide remains throughout society that is largely critical of persons of different races or cultures who fall under a variety of stereotypes.

Chronically ill patients and their families must be able to manage ethical decision-making in a positive manner in order to facilitate effective outcomes and to be mindful of the needs of the patients who are served. The impact of chronic illness on patients and their families may lead to difficult decision-making in some situations, thereby violating ethical principles in cases when patients may not receive the desired level of care and treatment from the healthcare community. At the same time, healthcare providers may compromise the ethics of the practice setting when they refuse to treat patients for different reasons, including race and culture. Therefore, patients may struggle in their efforts to receive adequate care and treatment at a high level and may not receive the respect that they deserve. In these cases, the ethics of healthcare practice are compromised and demonstrate a need to further examine the different issues that impact patients from different cultures, particularly those with chronic diseases. Chronic illnesses are often serious in nature and require patient care to be of the highest possible quality at all times in order to facilitate a positive approach to health and wellbeing. The appropriate interventions must take place so that patients with chronic illnesses will receive care and treatment in a comprehensive manner to support effective care and management at all times (Lubkin & Larsen, 2011).

Persons with chronic illnesses require skilled and experienced nurses in order to be effective in administering care and treatment on a regular basis. Nurses must exercise sound and reasonable judgment in decision-making for their patients and be mindful of cultural and ethnic differences that may require some degree of adjustment in communication and in patterns of care and treatment. There must be a greater emphasis on nurses providing education to patients with chronic diseases in order to enable them to administer self-care at a high level and to understand the risks associated with their health status (Eckman et.al, 2012). These factors must demonstrate the importance of nurses as promoters of health literacy, including offering education across different cultures in order to be effective in supporting patient health and wellbeing (Eckman et.al, 2012). Nurses must also serve as key advocates for all of their patients, particularly those with chronic diseases, as these pose additional challenges in order to ensure that patients receive the best possible level of support to improve their health. Nurses must be advocates in supporting their needs across cultures; therefore, diversity must be a critical factor in supporting patients who face different barriers to care and treatment in this regard. Patient care outcomes depend on nurses who are compassionate, who provide high quality care and treatment on a continuous basis, and who represent a means of advancing their cause and providing support in an ethically responsible manner.

Health promotion is a critical factor in advancing the objectives of modern healthcare systems and nursing practice. Nurses who work in different healthcare settings must be prepared to educate patients regarding health promotion so that discussions regarding chronic diseases are active and are designed to engage patients in strategies to improve and maintain their health (Geense, van de Glind, Visscher, & van Achterberg, 2013). It is important for nurses to be mindful of the different strategies and needs of the patient population that will influence health promotion and provide patients with tools to address their own health risks (Geense et.al, 2013). Furthermore, behavioral modifications must be emphasized by nurses as a means of improving health and in supporting the dynamics of care related to chronic diseases (Geense et.al, 2013). Health promotion is a critical component of the modern healthcare system and requires patients to buy into the concepts that have been introduced in order to be effective in managing chronic diseases effectively.

Healthcare professionals must utilize resources effectively in order to improve health promotion activities at a high level and to embrace all populations in advancing healthier outcomes. Community-based endeavors such as educational programs, screenings, and other tools are essential in supporting advanced healthcare outcomes and in promoting a positive and meaningful approach to healthcare practice at a high level within the community setting (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). It is important for nurses to emphasize community-based education that is culturally appropriate and which provides an example for patients to follow in their own lives that will contribute to improvements in their health over time (Kulbok et.al, 2012).

References

Eckman, M. H., Wise, R., Leonard, A. C., Dixon, E., Burrows, C., Khan, F., & Warm, E. (2012).

Impact of health literacy on outcomes and effectiveness of an educational intervention in patients with chronic diseases. Patient education and counseling, 87(2), 143-151.

Geense, W. W., van de Glind, I. M., Visscher, T. L., & van Achterberg, T. (2013). Barriers,

facilitators and attitudes influencing health promotion activities in general practice: an explorative pilot study. BMC family practice, 14(1), 20.

Kulbok, P. A., Thatcher, E., Park, E., & Meszaros, P. S. (2012). Evolving public health nursing

roles: focus on community participatory health promotion and prevention. Online J Issues in Nurs, 17.

Lubkin, I.M., & Larsen, P.D. (2011). Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention, 8^th Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning.