Human Experience Across the Health-Illness Continuum Essay Assignment Paper
Human Experience Across the Health-Illness Continuum
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Introduction
An individual’s health is subjected to continuous change as one grows. Individuals move from good health, illness, and back to health. Health-illness continuum includes: high-level wellness, good health, normal health, illness, and finally death. It conceptualizes that an individual’s time will never be stable, and varies with time. Individuals continuously adapt to the changes in their lives to nurture their wellbeing and normal health. The reason behind changes in an individual’s health is their adaptation towards changes, and not change itself. Health-illness continuum is essential as it assists in determining the intensity of an individual’s health condition, the level of care they demand and the objectives to be achieved (Rodriguez, 2014). In this paper, I will discuss human experience across the health-illness continuum.
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Question 1
As stated above, wellness and illness are not static in an individual’s life. Care providers aim at modifying the wellness and illness of a patient. Care providers achieve this by first close monitoring the health status of a patient and making informed decisions on the appropriate care to provide. Patient monitoring is essential to understand the unique aspects of every patient and make sure that changes with implications for health care are well controlled. Care provided aims to reach a high level of wellness, which is an objective identified as being at the extreme end of the health-illness continuum. Illness and death are on the other hand identified as being on the opposite end of the health-illness continuum. Normal health is viewed as a neutral point with no visible wellness or illness and is at the middle of the continuum (Lubkin & Larsen, 2014). The health-illness continuum is significant for the treatment paradigm with an understanding that individuals prefer high level and good health status, individuals accept normal health which there are raised concerns for illness and death. Treatment for patients depends on the health level status of an individual, with treatment urgency for patients shifting from normal health status, illness, and death. Individuals achieve normal health through excellent care attention. On the other hand, achieving good health and high-level wellness requires the participation of not only the care provider but the patient as well, through adopting healthy behaviors (Wilson & Giddens, 2014)
Question 2
Health care providers understand the health-illness continuum, as they work in the medical services delivery. These care providers meet different patients each at different health status which exposes them to an invariable health pattern. Health care providers, therefore, use their skills that incorporate physiological and biophysical sciences to provide care services in dignified and holistic methods in the health-illness continuum. Through this, care providers assist society, individual patients, their families, and the community to restore, maintain, and advance quality health and wellness. The health-illness continuum is essential for care providers as they can embrace their unique responsibilities and functions including applying ethics in decision making, advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, communication, leadership, and teaching (Hansen-Turton, Sherman & King, 2015).
Further, the health-illness continuum assists care providers in practicing and promoting a safe environment in every health care setting as they utilize professional principles such as standards of justice and fairness, care judgment, change theory, and care processes. Health-illness continuum assists medical professionals in advancing the value and dignity of patients by understanding that every individual is unique and multidimensional and with distinct needs. Further, the continuum helps care providers to understand that each individual has unique attributes spiritually, culturally, and biopsychosocial. Employing this knowledge, care providers help patients master and develop lifestyles that lead to human flourishing, encouraging patients to adopt these lifestyles (Finkelman & Kenner, 2014). Generally, the health-illness continuum helps care providers to assist populations in health promotion and ways of attaining optimal health and wellness in their lives.
Question 3
Looking at my health personally, I am currently in good health. With full information and awareness of the health-illness continuum, I continually aim at improving my health and wellness through ways that avoid health illnesses. Under the health-illness continuum, I identify myself as of good health and strive to adopt behaviors and lifestyles that will move me towards high-level wellness, using my professional skills of health and illnesses. Among the healthy lifestyles, I have developed include maintaining a positive attitude towards health, ensuring healthy and nutritional eating, reducing risks and opportunities of having heart conditions and diabetes, and physical exercising daily. Further, I am seeking more information on evidence-based options and resources for health improvement to improve my health. These options include materials on health education, existing public information about health improvement, and illness avoidance. I believe that my efforts will soon lead to my high-level wellness.
Question 4
In the health-illness continuum, five resources will aid in moving my health toward wellness. Firstly, medical facilities and personnel are one of the resources to use. This resource help in determining ill-health and the causes and the best ways to apply in curbing them and improving my health. They include tools for diagnosing illnesses essential for determining the specific source of the illness and appropriate measures for treatment such as medication. The other resource is public information techniques such as government-managed health websites. Further, I will pursue internet health concerns which is a useful informing tool for gaining information about ways people employ to improve health. The other resource is social media platforms where different individuals from different communities share health experiences and ways to improve health. Lastly, social support will be useful such as the immediate family which acts as guidance and environment enhancers to achieving good health.
Conclusion
Health-illness continuum is essential for comprehending the dynamic health status of an individual. It is further vital for care providers, to inform them on appropriate ways for managing patients and providing quality care. It assists care providers to provide safe care through integration of professionalism and make patients feel loved and encouraged to participate in health improvement to reach high-level wellness health status. Health-illness continuum helps in developing close relationships between care providers and patients which is essential for health promotion.
References
Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2014). Professional Nursing Concepts: Competencies for Quality Leadership (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Hansen-Turton, T., Sherman, S., & King, E. (Eds.) (2015). Nurse-Led Health Clinics: Operations, Policy, and Opportunities. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Lubkin, I. M., & Larsen, P. D. (Eds.) (2014). Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention (8th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Rodriguez, D. M. (2014). The Balance Concept in Health and Nursing: A Universal Approach to Care and Survival. iUniverse LLC.
Wilson, S. F., & Giddens, J. F. (2014). Health Assessment for Nursing Practice (5th ed.). Elsevier Mosby. Human Experience Across Health-Illness Continuum
Question
Research the health-illness continuum and its relevance to patient care. In a 750-1,000 word paper, discuss the relevance of the continuum to patient care and present a perspective of your current state of health in relation to the wellness spectrum. Include the following:
1. Examine the health-illness continuum and discuss why this perspective is important to consider in relation to health and the human experience when caring for patients.
2. Explain how understanding the health-illness continuum enables you, as a health care provider, to better promote the value and dignity of individuals or groups and to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing.
3. Reflect on your overall state of health. Discuss what behaviors support or detract from your health and well-being. Explain where you currently fall on the health-illness continuum.
4. Discuss the options and resources available to you to help you move toward wellness on the health-illness spectrum. Describe how these would assist in moving you toward wellness (managing a chronic disease, recovering from an illness, self-actualization, etc.).
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