CASE STUDY

Patient Scenario Case Study: Patient living with end stage heart failure



Patient Scenario Case Study: Patient living with end stage heart failure

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis on the case study of a patient named Muriel who had been suffering from heart disease. The paper makes an analysis on the initiative and intervention of resources by the healthcare professionals and community groups in order to facilitate empowerment and personal self management of Muriel's disease. The paper also makes discussion on the patient or family centred problem and make analysis on the evidence based care provided by the inter-professional team, and the effective therapeutic communication when caring for the patient.

Case Analysis

The case study is about a 75 year Lady Muriel, who have been diagnosed a heart failure 16 months ago. She had been suffering from the shortness of breath and palpitations. According to the diagnosis, the main reason of the heart failure is coronary artery disease. She belongs to a very supportive family, and her daughter keeps on visiting her and does her housework. Her illness made her fatigued and depressed. As medication, she had been advised to take some medicines including ACE and Beta-blocking drug. The consultant has also advised her to take morphine in order to improve her breath. She was an addict of cigarettes; therefore, she could not take the oxygen therapy for her breath problem. Her disease and problems made her tensed and fatigued, and she thought of dying instead of being burden on her daughter. Her ulcer had been very problematic for her, and because of it she got admitted to hospital twice, but she decided to stay at home. She has the thinking to visit Dignitas which is an institute located in Switzerland and assists seriously ill people in suicide. Thus, she needs the advices on her problems.

Patch 1: Initiative/Intervention to facilitate Empowerment and Personal Self Management of Patient's Disease

The study of the effectiveness of strategies to empower indicates two main areas: the processes by which they implemented and their impact on improving health and reducing inequalities in health (Barrowclough, 2010, p. 373). Empowerment itself considered as the final result, as well as an intermediate step towards achieve long-term health status and reducing inequalities. In the case of Muriel, empowerment is a very necessary factor. The use of patient intervention is growing day by day. One of the methods of intervention that can be chosen in order to deal with the case of Muriel is the counselling. A good patient education also provides a theoretical understanding of heart problems and educates the practical management of this disease. So goals are knowledge and behavioral training to improve the management of the disease, and learning self-control and monitoring, self-help and treatment adaptation to increasingly take personal responsibility in the long-term treatment of heart problems (Smedley, 2002, p. 45). Many cardiac specialists and rehabilitation clinics and also hospitals and support groups offer such training ...