NURSING PLAN CARE

Name

Institution

Explain how your own perceptions about quality of life and health promotion might affect your care for a dying patient with a lingering illness such as cancer.

For patients with chronic illness, one of the most valuable things to note about recovering is the fact that the patient does not only require medical treatment to facilitate their wellness, but also emotional support to sustain their speedy recovery. Emotional support complements the patient’s well being. Another essential point to note is that members of the family are the closest people who can achieve effective emotional support (DeMarco, 2011, p. 116). Hence, the fact that Mrs. Thomas does not have emotional support especially from her family is one of the limiting factors to her speedy recovery. At the same time, it is also essential to note that cooperation will lead to emotional support; hence the family’s disagreement reduces the emotional support Mrs. Thomas gets. Secondly, her husband has been severely frustrated mainly because he does not get support from his sons in looking after their mother, and his emotional support is, therefore, not sufficient. Lastly, it is necessary to note that patients with chronic illnesses require regular medical check ups since a key aspect of chronic diseases is their rapid progression. Mrs. Thomas will, therefore, need people especially her immediate family who will always check up on her and ensure that she sticks to the medication plan.

Discuss three strategies that you could use in the Thomas’s situation to improve the quality of life for Mrs. Thomas and her husband during this illness.

There are three strategies that could be adopted by the Thomas’ in order to improve their quality of life. First, medical checkups will help indicate any change in the patient’s condition. Secondly, they should jointly adopt the changes in the patient’s health as well as the consequences that will come with it, for example, the dietary changes. Mutual adopting of the changes especially in their diet will make it easier not only for the patient, but also the husband. Lastly, it is also useful for the family to include the wife’s situation in their financial budgets. This is because her medical insurance cover does not cater for long term illnesses, and for this reason, she will have to support herself after some time.

Create a holistic nursing action plan appropriate for managing Mrs. Thomas’s care at home. 

1.  Discuss ways to optimize Mrs. Thomas’s functional ability at this stage of her illness. 

2.  Discuss ways to provide care for Mrs. Thomas once self-care is no longer possible.

From a holistic medical point of view, a critical analysis of Mrs. Thomas condition will be required, and this will include a chemo-test to determine the disease’s extent. If the extent of the infection does not allow chemotherapy based on a number of possible reasons such as the cancer’s progression, it will be beneficial to place the patient under oral medication, in this case Vicodin which is a hydrocodone/ paracetamol medicine that is nonreactive and nonallergic.

If the patient’s medical condition progresses to a point whereby she is not in a position to remain under self-care, there are a number of different measures that the family can choose from, the most ideal being putting her under specialized care. This is the most ideal choice primarily based on the fact that the family will constantly interact with the patient. Alternatively, facility healthcare can be adopted; this is a cheaper means that will put the patient under specialized care. However, many families do not prefer this option because they are not in daily contact with their patient.

Explain how you, as the community health nurse, can intervene in this situation in the management of Mr. Thomas’s chronic depression.

As a community nurse, there are a number of ways through which the patient’s depression can be managed. First, it is necessary to make the patient accept her medical condition. Secondly, Mrs. Thomas should be encouraged to work out and exercise a lot because this will keep her busy and the less she thinks of her condition, the less depressed she becomes. Lastly, it will be beneficial to let her know the necessity of adhering to the doctors’ medical subscriptions as well as regular medical check up (Nies, 2010, p. 89).

References

DeMarco, R. (2011). Community health nursing. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Nies, M. (2010). Community/public health nursing: promoting the health of populations. New Jersey: Wiley.