Managing Illness Flashcards
Define self-care.
The actions people take for themselves and their families to:
1 - Maintain good physical and mental health.
2 - Meet social and psychological needs.
3 - Prevent illness / accidents.
4 - Care for minor ailments and long-term conditions.
5 - Maintain health after an acute illness.
List 4 functions of self-care (according to Barofsky).
1 - Restorative (to alleviate illness).
2 - Reactive (to alleviate symptoms).
3 - Preventative (to prevent illness).
4 - Regulatory (to regulate bodily processes).
List 6 factors contributing to self-care.
1 - Definitions of health and illness.
2 - Changing beliefs about medical power.
3 - Internet use.
4 - Technology (self-testing kits).
5 - Availability of OTC drugs.
6 - Need to reduce NHS costs.
What did McShane and Mitchel say about focusing on treating individual conditions rather than treating individuals?
- There are rising numbers of patients with multiple conditions.
- The consequence of focusing on individual conditions rather than individuals is fragmented and inefficient care.
What is master status?
- The social position which is the primary identifying characteristic of an individual and that overshadows all other social positions.
- e.g. ‘person with hypertension and co-morbidities’ - hypertension is the master status.
What is the expert patient programme?
A programme aims to give people with long-term conditions the confidence to self-manage.
List 5 reasons for why the expert patient programme focuses on people with chronic illness.
1 - There is an increase in ageing population.
2 - There is an increase in chronic disease and co-morbidity.
3 - There is an increase in health service demand.
4 - There are new concepts of ageing.
5 - There is a lack of health education programmes for people with chronic disease.
List 6 assumptions / characteristics of acute illnesses.
1 - The illness is ongoing.
2 - A cure is expected.
3 - Quality of life is highly dependent on professional, acute health care services.
4 - The healthcare professional has a greater knowledge of the illness than the patient.
5 - Short term goals are set.
6 - Compliance is expected.
List 6 assumptions / characteristics of chronic illnesses.
1 - The illness is episodic.
2 - The illness is incurable.
3 - Quality of life is dependent on the patient’s self-care and decision making skills.
4 - The patient has a greater knowledge of the illness than the healthcare professional.
5 - Short term goals are set to only to meet long term outcomes.
6 - Compliance and self-reliance are expected.
List the 12 self-management tasks in chronic disease.
1 - Recognising and responding to symptoms.
2 - Using medications.
3 - Managing acute episodes.
4 - Maintaining good nutrition.
5 - Maintaining adequate exercise.
6 - Not smoking.
7 - Using relaxation techniques.
8 - Interacting appropriately with healthcare providers.
9 - Seeking information and using community resources.
10 - Adapting work and other role functions.
11 - Communicating with significant others.
12 - Managing the negative emotions and psychological responses to the illness.
