Health-illness Continuum and its Relevance to Patient Care

Health-illness Continuum and its Relevance to Patient Care

The health of an individual is a dynamic state, changing from time to time, depending on various factors. These factors include the environment, physical activity, genetics, and social and health-seeking behaviour of an individual. These factors create a health-illness continuum that has five stages. The first stage is high-level well-being. The subsequent stages are good health, normal health, disease, and demise. The spectrum assumes that the health condition of an individual differs from time to time (Tomczyk et al., 2022). These variabilities mean that human beings have to modify their behaviour depending on their health status at a particular time. Positive behaviours improve health outcomes, while negative behaviours worsen poor health conditions. Possession of proper and adequate knowledge of the health-illness continuum improves the quality of care.

Importance of Health-Illness Continuum in Patient Care

The continuum of health and illness is a critical concept that enhances patient health and quality of care in inpatient treatment. This concept views health and illness as a spectrum, with high levels of health and well-being at one end and high levels of disease and poor health, including mortality, at the other. This measure is used to assess patients’ health status and determine a strategy for treatment. It is crucial to add the component of well-being. The parameters of good health are subjective (Jorgensen & Rendtorff, 2022). It depends on the viewpoint of an individual. This viewpoint is important in healthcare provision. It enables healthcare providers to treat illness and deal with other concerns not immediately related to the illness. The treatment suited for each patient, depending on their needs, greatly improves their well-being.

Promoting Value and Dignity

Healthcare providers, especially nurses, are an integral part of the healthcare system. They interact with patients who are at different stages of the health-illness continuum. Interaction with these patients at different stages helps them learn different health-seeking behaviours and the underlying factors. Healthcare providers have extensive scientific knowledge that is supported by evidence. They can use their knowledge to provide mindful, noble, logical, and comprehensive care to the general public. This form of care will keep up or reestablish ideal well-being and health (Fuseini et al., 2022). Understanding the health-illness continuum permits healthcare providers to take up their special job and a wide variety of capabilities that incorporate multidisciplinary, coordinated effort, initiative, correspondence, moral, independent direction, promotion, and instructing. Furthermore, it assists them with creating a protected space in all training settings as they utilize proficient standards like the idea of progress hypothesis, standards of equity and fairness, and care processes.

Understanding the health-illness continuum helps healthcare providers promote value and dignity by seeing every individual as multifaceted and extraordinary while having widespread necessities. Furthermore, the healthcare provider understands that each patient has their own social, cultural, and religious practices. Therefore, every patient is urged to dominate formative errands that assist them in endeavouring towards self-realization, with the healthcare provider assisting the patient with recovering and attaining a health status that aligns with their perception of good health and well-being.

Reflection on the Overall Personal State of Health

From a conventional perspective, I am generally in good health. I am youthful, physically fit, and emotionally and mentally stable, and I do not experience the ill effects of having any constant or intense comorbidities. I come from a family with no history of endocrine or cardiovascular diseases, no history of mental illness, and no history of familial cancers. I am continuously seeking to maintain my good health status. I try to maintain eating a balanced diet and engage in moderate physical exercises. I also read books and participate in mind-stimulating exercises to maintain my mental health. I also update my knowledge of good health by reading books about common diseases and ways of improving well-being. The books address well-being concerns and keep away from infirmity.

Options and Resources to Move Toward Wellness

To move towards wellness, I will maintain eating a balanced diet. A balanced diet provides all the nutrients an individual needs in adequate proportions (Pagliai et al., 2021). It will prevent obesity and cardiovascular or metabolic diseases. Another way I can move towards wellness is by continuing with physical activity. I can join a local gymnasium and participate in various activities. Exercise improves heart function and improves muscle bulk and tone. All these reduce the risk of acquiring heart disease and conditions such as obesity. Regular visits to the hospital to check my health status will help me improve it (Maulana & Pradana, 2018). At the hospital, screening for ill health can be done. Illnesses such as hypertension, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and diabetes mellitus can be detected early and managed appropriately.

I can also get vaccines against illnesses like hepatitis B, tetanus, typhoid, and tetanus at the hospital. Moreover, the healthcare providers can offer more knowledge and guidance on various methods of improving my health status. The internet is also a useful tool in improving my health status. Multiple websites have information on improving one’s well-being. Some sites allow downloading books on healthy living. Some websites are dedicated to exercise or the preparation of healthy diets.

Preventing the occurrence of illness is better than treating it. I will observe hygiene practices to move towards wellness on the health-illness continuum. I will properly wash my hands whenever necessary. I will also properly wash and cook my vegetables before eating them. Furthermore, I will ensure that I have water that is safe to drink. Maintaining good health improves the quality of life by reducing the incidence of disease and the cost of seeking health services.

Conclusion

Health status is a dynamic state hence creating the health-illness continuum. The health-illness continuum is crucial in providing health services to patients. It determines their level of well-being and the kind of services they need. Healthcare providers must understand the health-illness continuum. Good understanding enables the provision of care that is patient-centred. Moreover, the care provided addresses all needs, including those that are not immediately related to illness. Accordingly, this improves treatment outcomes and quality of life.

References

Fuseini, A. G., Ley, L., Rawson, H., Ridley, B., & Kerr, D. (2022). A systematic review of patient‐reported dignity and dignified care during acute hospital admission. Journal of Advanced Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15370

Jørgensen, K., & Rendtorff, J. D. (2018). Patient participation in mental health care–perspectives of healthcare professionals: an integrative review. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 32(2), 490-501. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12531

Maulana, A. E., & Pradana, H. G. (2018). Regular medical checkup behaviour: preventing is better than cure. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-11-2016-0229

Pagliai, G., Dinu, M., Madarena, M. P., Bonaccio, M., Iacoviello, L., & Sofi, F. (2021). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Nutrition, 125(3), 308-318. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114520002688

Tomczyk, S., Schlick, S., Gansler, T., McLaren, T., Muehlan, H., Peter, L. J., & Schmidt, S. (2022). Continuum beliefs of mental illness: a systematic review of measures. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02345-4

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Assessment Description
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:

Health-illness Continuum and its Relevance to Patient Care

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.
Explain how understanding the health-illness continuum enables you, as a healthcare provider, to better promote the value and dignity of individuals or groups and to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing and are consistent with the Christian worldview.
Reflect on your overall state of health. Discuss what behaviours support or detract from your health and well-being. Explain where you currently fall on the health-illness continuum.
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.).
You are required to cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assesses the following programmatic competency:

RN-BSN

5.3: Understand the human experience across the health-illness continuum.