Chronic Illness

[verivici]

Hi! As a student nurse I'm still trying to figure out my own attitudes an beliefs and how they affect my nursing care. I find I am always faced with the stigma of people with CI being lazy, selfish, incompetent ect and its not right to label an entire population by a very minute minority. I have very limited experience in working with patients with CI, and I'm trying to get more knowledgeable about it. I was just wondering, for those of your who have worked with patients suffering from a chronic illness, how would you say your perception of chronic illness has changed due to the experience? Also, what did you learn about yourself as a health care professional when working with these patients?

[Tofayelbd]

Just we should learn professional behave. But nursing professional behave is quiet different. As a nurse, always should be helpful to the people.

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

I work with people that have chronic illness all day every day- mostly diabetes and hypertension, but CHF, asthma, and others too. These are incredibly common conditions. The majority of adults has at least one chronic illness. I am unfamiliar with this "stigma" you mention. Are you talking about something else? Your question is vague.

[vanburbian]

Oh I think OP may mean those who are "chronically ill" but disguised as narcotic seeking, disability collecting, bipolar youths in power chairs with dirty UA's...

Or, as a wise poster noted earlier...homework.

[leslie :-D]

wow...i'm probably wrong...again...but did not get impression this is a homework question.

to me, sounds like someone who has been in school long enough, to hear some of the stereotypes that go with ea illness, and wants to ensure s/he doesn't fall into that trap?

could be wrong, but personally i think it's a good question that s/b distinguished from those who are SERIOUSLY and chronically ill, versus those who milk the system.

lots of them out there, too.

op, bottom line: as a nurse, you want to facilitate your pt's abilities to max limit possible.

no matter what the disability, giving them even 1 autonomous task could mean the world to them.

you will also meet those who can but won't.

those types are challenging, but it's still up to you to find out their fears/reluctance.

all the best with your studies.

leslie

[talaxandra]

You might find this thread useful, too.

[nurseygurlie]

Chronic illness is not always something related to lifestyle. Sickle cell, osteoporosis, lupus, cancer, asthma, even cirrhosis, diabetes, depression and hypertension are all chronic illnesses that can happen without a known cause.

Are you sure this is a common stigma or maybe just someone's naive opinion? Or maybe you meant to use a different term than "chronic illness"?

To me, there is only one way I look at someone who is dealing with being chronically ill and that is with empathy. It's a difficult and depressing way to live, and it can be easy to fall into a state of depression because of the lack of control over the illness and its negative effects on all areas of one's life.

Our job as nurses is to try to help these patients live the highest quality life they can, be as involved as they can, and cope as well as they can. If someone is judging a patient because of the type of illness they have or how active they appear to be in the state of their health, before doing a full assessment on what is really going on, they are in the wrong profession.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I have chronic pain, arthritis all over my body and I am overweight because I cannot exercize well because of the pain.

My chronic problems came because I was rear ended by an 18 wheeler going 85miles hour in a 55 mile zone and couldnt stop when a car accident happened in front of us. It couldnt be prevented yet now I have suffered and continue to suffer for the rest of my life. It will be 6 years in February!

I work 40 plus hours a week and ask for nothing from anybody except respect when I attend my dr's appt. Yet a lot of the time I have been treated as a

'pain med seeker' which is hillarious as I dont take any because I have severe reactions to medication.

I have been told you could lose 50lb's-really I never noticed

I can however take ibrufen but as soon as I take this med I get an ulcer! Last count I had 6 ulcers and a low HB unfortunatly the pain is so bad I toss up between bleeding to death or to take a motrim!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

op, bottom line: as a nurse, you want to facilitate your pt's abilities to max limit possible.

no matter what the disability, giving them even 1 autonomous task could mean the world to them.

This is a perfect description of nursing for chronic illness.

A situation I faced with my own brother, who is chronically ill with cancer... Note, I didn't say terminal because he has outlived his original prognosis (6 months) by about seven years! He is chronically ill with many physical deficits and noticeable but manageable cognitive deficits.

When I went to visit him about a year ago, I asked him about his physical therapy. He was upset because the therapist didn't come as often as he would like her to (insurance restrictions), and the contraption to increase his ROM and strength was cumbersome. I just said to him, "You don't need that contraption. Just move. Walk up and down the hall with your walker. Anything. Just move."

Now, when I call him, he's worked his way up to going slowly on a treadmill. He had felt confined to the treatments ordered by the PT, but it didn't need to be that way. He was now in control, where before, he felt out of control.

I think I told the story here of a patient during nursing school who was inundated with restrictions by the dietician and was feeling helpless/hopeless to manage his own cardiovascular health. He was a single guy who would grab fast food for meals and eat chips at home. I suggested that he start small by replacing his snacks with healthier ones at home. This way, the only time willpower would come into the equation was at the grocery store. He brightened up a little and said, "I think I can do that!"

I do have to admit that those two situations were one of the times that I felt really proud of being a nurse (now, I mostly feel stressed!), even though I wasn't a nurse yet either time.