Stages of Life and the Influence of Age in Health Care from a Patient’s Perspective
The lifecycle of a person comprises five stages: infancy, childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. For each of these stages, the patient’s experience of interacting with healthcare facilities and professionals is different (Brandl et al., 2020). In this interview, I talked to a 69-year-old female Hispanic who had HTN, was obese, and had recently been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The patient believes that if only her parents had been keen to take her to the physician for annual checkups, she would probably not be obese. As far as she remembers, she has always been overweight, and it seemed her parents were very proud of her chubbiness. As a teenager, she struggled with body image but later came to accept herself as a young adult. However, when she turned 62, she was diagnosed with HTN and put on prescription medication. The patient assumed that the medication would control her blood pressure and she would not need to really shed any weight. This was despite the nurse educating her on the need to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle. Two months ago, she was diagnosed with diabetes and is now worried for her life and that of her children and grandchildren. She does not want to die and leave them, and hence, this time, she has taken measures to lose weight. Now, she keeps her physician appointments, checks what she eats, and does regular exercises. The patient believes that this last diagnosis has had the most impact on her and her need to interact with the healthcare facility and professionals.
At the time she was diagnosed, the area of the clinic that was most concerned with her health was the nurses at the ER because after checking her BP, weight, and blood glucose, they were alarmed at the results. The ER nurses ensured that she saw the physician, was admitted for a day for monitoring, and later, she was given an appointment with the hospital psychologist and the dietician. The psychologist was to help her establish her relationship with food and what she could do to break the unhealthy relationship. The dietician helped her with a meal plan she could follow, which would help her lose weight safely and consistently.
On the day that she visited the hospital, she had been accompanied by her daughter. Earlier on that day, she had called her daughter after nearly falling in the bathroom after a dizzy spell. She has also experienced three black-out spells in a period of two weeks, and because they were far apart, she dismissed them as fatigue. However, on arriving at the hospital, the ER nurses were quick to attend to her when they saw that her demeanor was off. Some tests later, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was admitted for a day.
The patient’s daughter came the following day to pick her up after discharge. Her daughter also said that the patient would stay at her house (the daughter’s house) for a few weeks until she was well enough to go back to her own house. During discharge, the patient’s daughter was given instructions on how to manage diabetes and pre-existing HTN (Peter et al., 2015). The patient was requested to repeat the instructions to determine that she had understood what was required of her in managing the two illnesses and also to ensure she adhered to her medication (Yen & Leasure, 2019). The patient’s daughter also attended the appointment with the dietician. The patient also requested that her daughter be present during her appointment with the psychologist.
References
Brandl, B., Skurk, T., Rennekamp, R., Hannink, A., Kiesswetter, E., Freiherr, J., … & Hauner, H. (2020). A phenotyping platform to characterize healthy individuals across four stages of life-the enable study. Frontiers in nutrition, 7.
Peter, D., Robinson, P., Jordan, M., Lawrence, S., Casey, K., & Salas-Lopez, D. (2015). Reducing readmissions using teach-back: enhancing patient and family education. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(1), 35-42.
Yen, P. H., & Leasure, A. R. (2019). Use and effectiveness of the teach-back method in patient education and health outcomes. Federal Practitioner, 36(6), 284.
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Question 
Stages of Life and the Influence of Age in Health Care from a Patient’s Perspective
Stages of Life Essay and Interview
Write a 500-750-word essay on the stages of life and the influence of age in health care from a patient’s perspective. Interview a friend or family member about that person’s experiences with the health care system. You may develop your own list of questions.
Stages of Life Essay and Interview
Suggested questions:
- Do you feel that your stage of life had any effect on your interaction with health care professionals?
- Which areas of the hospital or clinic were most concerned with your well-being and feelings?
- Was your family with you during this hospital stay or outpatient visit?
- Was your family included in your treatment, such as post-procedure instructions?
- You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.