B1 U2 - Illness, Health and Care

B1 U2 - Illness, Health and Care

1. Being ill

   • The sick role
     • A state of illness that is not the person's fault
     • An individual is temporarily exempt from 'ordinary' daily obligations and expectations
     • The expectation that the individual will seek help from the the appropriate health care profesisonal
   • Psychological aspect - what is happening in the minds Anwar fears he will lose his status as head of the house by showing weakness
   • Biological aspect - what is happening with their bodies
   • Social aspect - social surroundings

2. Health Care in the community

   • Primary care
     • Services that are provided by people you normally see when you first have a health problem. GP, Dentist, Optician, Pharmacist
     • Anwar sees his Optician who sends him to GP then on to Diabetic Clinic
     • Anwar - v uncomfortable at GP. Women Dr asking intimate Q's. Lack of time available to talk. ESOL
   • Secondary Care
     • Services that you are 'referred' to from a primary service. Diabetic clinic, ENT, Social Services
   • Chronic conditions
     • A disease is an abnormality of body or mind. A chronic disease is one that is long-lasting or recurring
     • Anwar struggles to come to terms with condition as for the professionals diabetes is daily working life but for him it is shocking
   • Community Health Care Network
     • PHCT - Primary Health Care Teams
       • GP's, nurses, midwife, health visitor, receptionists
     • Websites - Diabetes UK

3. Being aware of the service user

   • Culturally appropriate services
     • Anwar was given a menu to follow that was culturally insensitive
     • South Asian residents of the UK are over four times as likely to be affected by diabetes
     • Not being able to understand how medication works - thinking it is only necessary to take it when feeling unwell and not al the time
   • Psychologically sensitive services
     • Understanding the adjustment that a diabetic faces
     • Dealing with bouts of depression
     • Guilty about inability to deal with demand of diabetes
   • Social circumstances

4. Care in hospitals

   • Biomedical science
     • detailed and reliable models of the body works, enabling to understand what is wrong
     • Expanding range of new treatments along with relatively reliable knowledge of their effects
     • Hospital - biomedical laboratory - systematic observation, complex scientific equipment and sophisticated medical interventions
   • Being a hospital patient
     • Anwar, visits GP and couple of hours later his leg is being amputated.
       • Unable to process information and unable to tell what is happening to him
       • Unaware he is not meant to take his own medication (like he normally would
     • Shedding your identity as active member of society for passive identity of one with a medical condition
     • No longer just sick role as completely removed from all duties
   • Role of HCA
     • Are providing more beside nursing that was previously carried our by a qualified nurse
     • Not always as supervised as should be because of staffing pressures.
   • Health care roles in hospital were traditionally organised in a hierarchy of biomedical expertise, but new forms of team working have emerged in recent times

5. Health Care in changing times

   • Andi - completely full life even though diabetic since childhood - healthy?
   • White papers - documents produced by the Government setting out details of future policy on a particular subject
     • Hierarchies to team work
     • Paternalism to partnership
     • Rise in the expert patient

6. WHO - 'Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmary