While reading some content online the other day, I happened in a paragraph that gave me pause. The article was addressing the work of primary care providers. Nothing earth shaking in what I read until I saw a sentence that said we should ask the patient how to define health. WOW! This is an important point that often overlook. Taking note of this entry you can explain much of the behavioral health of our patients.
Those of us who have chosen a profession in the health and wellbeing have been well educated in the classical definition of health. We study the normal laboratory values, graphs, tables, and a plethora of other items that we use to define good health. Changes to these normal values are usually indicative of some disease process. When a health worker sees a value outside the normal, we have this deep, burning desire to manage and correct the process that produced the offensive value. We often consult other practitioners to get their consoles on how best to tackle the problem we found. Then we use a variety of drugs and procedures to try to bring all the values that we measure back to normal, physiological. At that point we pronounce the patient healthy.
Those of us who have chosen a profession in the health and wellbeing have been well educated in the classical definition of health. We study the normal laboratory values, graphs, tables, and a plethora of other items that we use to define good health. Changes to these normal values are usually indicative of some disease process. When a health worker sees a value outside the normal, we have this deep, burning desire to manage and correct the process that produced the offensive value. We often consult other practitioners to get their consoles on how best to tackle the problem we found. Then we use a variety of drugs and procedures to try to bring all the values that we measure back to normal, physiological. At that point we pronounce the patient healthy.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 12 million workers in the health sector. That seems a lot of people unless you count the population of the United States, just over 300 million people. Thus, only about 4% of the population health view of how a nurse, pharmacist, physician or other health professional does. The other 96% probably define the health or welfare in ways that are difficult to understand.
When a health worker sees a patient who suffers from diabetes, which usually pronounce their management as good when it is associated with fasting glucose between 70 and 120 mg / dl or hemoglobin A1c of 6% or 7. We read all studies, slides viewed and listened to the lessons that tell us that these values are indicative of good health. But what about the patient? How do you define good health in their minds? The variety of answers will really surprise many people, but they explain a lot of unhealthy behavior.
The most people usually resort to medical care that one of two reasons. O are in pain or are losing a red, hot, sticky fluid from their body. Otherwise, pronounced in good health. It 's easy to see how this applies to those who have not been sick before. But many people, even in the face of a chronic illness diagnosed, are considered healthy if they subjectively feel good. No matter the dire warning of future consequences, if not take their prescribed medication. They feel good right now, so should be ok. Unfortunately, this is when the patient decides to abandon their medication or other treatment. You see, by their definition, are now well again.
It 's important for us to determine how the patient defines good health. In order to gain their respect for their help with the treatment plan, we need to know how the patient sees what we're doing for them. Some people are curious and seek knowledge about their disease process on our part or other health sources. Others are not interested in our dire predictions about increased risk of stroke, heart attack or other serious events, but to take their medicine. They live in the here and now. Tomorrow is another day that will be addressed when it arrives. Once you determine the definition of the patient to good health, we now have an idea on how we need to approach them. It may mean that this patient will benefit from a support group or more frequent follow-up visits. It may mean that they will actually read and use the brochures as patient education we give them.
Whatever the situation, we take the time to get an idea of the patient to good health. If we ignore this critical point, you can always ask why the patient is not always better, despite all the signs and medications you can do without. Working towards a common goal with a common definition is likely to make life better for everyone.
