Chronic Illness and Disability

 

Health plays an important role in life. Good health is central to human happiness, but lifestyle factors have a great impact on the physical health and mental health of human beings. Lifestyle factors include our diet, exercise, sleeping habits, smoking, alcohol, and many more. A healthy lifestyle should include a healthy diet, exercise, complete sleep, and no smoking, and alcohol. A poor lifestyle may lead to acute illness, chronic illness, and disability. Chronic illness is a state of a body in which the illness remains for a long time which may be more than three months, and require medical intervention. It includes heart diseases, diabetes, arthritis, obesity, cancer, etc. Chronic diseases are caused by poor lifestyle, environmental conditions or are genetic in nature and may lead to disability. Disability is a state of a body in which a person may have a physical or mental impairment that may limit many daily activities and is caused by chronic diseases. It includes vision impairment, physical disability, mental disability, etc. Many chronic illnesses may not hinder daily activities, but all types of disabilities hinder daily activities.

CHRONIC ILLNESS:

Chronic illness is a condition of the body which has lasted for three months or more and requires continuous medical attention. The rate of chronic diseases is very high all over the world. 7 out of 10 deaths each year in America are due to chronic diseases. Obesity is also a major concern and an important topic of discussion now a day. One out of every three people is obese now.

CAUSES:

The main causes of chronic illness include:

• Poor lifestyle
• Alcohol use
• Smoking
• Lack of physical activities
• Environmental conditions
• Genetic problems

SYMPTOMS:

The symptoms of chronic illness depend upon the type of disease and its relevant symptoms.

EXAMPLES:

Following are the examples of chronic diseases:

• Cardiovascular system (CVS) diseases
• Central nervous system (CNS) diseases
• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Cancer
• Respiratory diseases

MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION:

It is an emergency condition in which the heart muscles start to die quickly because of no or less blood flow; if not quickly managed, then this may lead to permanent damage of muscles and ultimately death. It is also known as a heart attack. A heart attack occurs due to many conditions, which finally end up blocking any artery of the heart, and the resistor completely blocks the flow of blood to the heart. As decreased or no blood to the body parts experience less or no oxygen, which results in damage to the tissues or muscles, and it starts to die but can be recovered if managed in an emergency, the delay can lead to permanent damage and can be fatal or points to death. Each year 635000 people in the US experience heart attacks.

CAUSES:

The causes of the heart attack include:

• Blockage in artery
• Spasm of the artery
• Trauma
• Imbalance of electrolytes
• Poor lifestyle

RISK FACTORS:

• Age
• Life style
• Family history
• Other diseases

SYMPTOMS:

• Chest pain
• Sweating
• Shortness of breath
• Discomfort

DIAGNOSIS:

Heart attack can be diagnosed by the following:

• ECG
• Blood test
• Angiography
• MRI of heart
• CT scan of the heart

TREATMENT:

Heart attack can be treated by the usage of the following:

• Thrombolytic
• Nitroglycerin
• Pain killers
• Blood-thinning agents

CHRONIC ILLNESS MODELS:

There are five chronic disease models, which are as follows:

• Chronic Care Model
• Improving Chronic Illness Care
• Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions
• Stanford Model
• Community-Based Transition Model

CHRONIC CARE MODEL:

It is a framework or system to provide intense care to patients with chronic diseases. The purpose is to provide care and improve facilities.

ELEMENTS:

There are six elements of the chronic care model that are essential for enhancing the care of chronically ill patients.  These elements include:

• Organizational support
• Discussion support
• Self-management support
• Information system
• Delivery system
• Community resources

ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT:

This element is used to create a culture that then promotes a high quality of care to chronic patients. It encourages the proper handling of errors and improves the care of the patients.

DISCUSSION SUPPORT:

It is helpful to promote the use of evidence-based guidelines in clinical practice. It also cheers patient participation for patient satisfaction. It includes the usage of proven educational methods.

SELF-MANAGEMENT SUPPORT:

It prepares and encourages the patient to manage their health by setting goals and timely follow-up. It organizes different resources to provide the patients with self-management support.

INFORMATION SYSTEM:

It is an effective system for organizing and remembering the information of the patient to provide them effective care. It improves the quality of care through proper planning.

DELIVERY SYSTEM:

It is helpful in delivering effective care and self-management support to the patient by distributing the tasks to team members and supporting evidence-based care. It also makes sure of regular follow-up of the patient.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES:

It includes the usage of community resources to provide care. It motivates the patient to participate in the programs arranged for the care of the patients. It also works effectively on the policies to enhance and improve the care facilities for the patients.

DISABILITY:

It is a human condition or the state of the body in which there is any mental impairment or physical impairment that acts as a hurdle in daily activities. The environment of the patient has a great impact on the disability like in the case of deafness, a person without a sign language interpreter faces difficulties. 

CAUSES:

The following are the causes of the disabilities:

• Chronic health conditions
• Personal factors
• Environmental factors

SYMPTOMS:

The symptom of disability varies with the type of impairment.

EXAMPLES:

PHYSICAL DISABILITY:

Physical disabilities include the following:

• Cerebral palsy
• Epilepsy
• Spinal cord injury
• Cystic fibrosis

MENTAL IMPAIRMENT:

Mental impairment includes the following:

• Depression
• Psychoses
• Bipolar disorder

DEPRESSION:

Depression can be the main reason for mental preparedness. Mental health is very important to perform the functions that are related to the body. If there are some mental illnesses, then it will affect the normal body functioning. When mindset goals are not achieved, then a state of depression happens. More other factors can also exaggerate the state of depression-like death, loss, disease, and other social, and economic factor are involved.

CAUSES:

• Serious illness
• Misuse of substances
• Events like death, job
• Conflict
• Age
• Family history

SYMPTOMS:

• Sadness
• Hopelessness
• Sleep disruption
• Low mood

DIAGNOSIS:

It can only be diagnosed by discussing the problem, and family history, and by the patient health questionnaire (PHQ).

TREATMENT:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Interpersonal therapy

DISABILITY MODEL:

There are many models for disability, but some of them are given below:

• The social model of Disability
• The medical model of disability
• Charity model of disability
• Minority model of disability
• Identify the model of disability
• Professional model of disability
• Moral model of disability

MORAL MODEL OF DISABILITY:

According to the moral model of disability, our moral values are extremely responsible for the disability. 

EXAMPLE:

The bad and strict behavior of the parents is responsible for mental disabilities.

PARTS:

The moral model of disability consists of two parts:

• Religious origin
• Character weakness

RELIGIOUS ORIGIN:

It includes punishment from God, bad deeds, and evil spirits.

CHARACTER WEAKNESS:

It includes corruption and immoral ness.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, it can be stated that the ratio of chronic illness has increased in the last few years. The major problem is that this figure is increasing day by day. The medical sciences are on their way to finding the solution to it. After brief studies, there is a conclusion that there are many factors that are the reason for these chronic illnesses. In some studies, it is stated that the only living lifestyle is the reason for the chronic illness, but later on, these studies also revealed that many other factors can be a part of these illnesses. These factors may include environmental, physiological factors and social impacts. Also, if the person is attacked by the disease, then there are many factors that can exaggerate the illness and lead to a chronic level.  For example, if the patient is suffering from toothache and receives no treatment, then this may lead to tooth decay and tooth surgery.  Similarly, environmental factors also impart an effect on the condition of the patient. The severity of the weather and changes in the climate alter the normal body homeostasis and leads to exaggeration of the illness. Sometimes social behavior of the people also disturbs the disease level. Some bad omens of society impart negative energy to the patient and decrease the willpower of the patient to get recover from the disease. The concluded statement for the above-discussed topic is that there are not only disease factors that affect the condition of the patient but also there are many other factors that also impart their effect. Models like the Morel model of disability and the model of critical care can be implemented to analyze the disease illness level in a better way and thus enable the health specialist to provide better service regarding the disease condition.