Healthcare Professional - Nursing - Reflection Writing Assignment Sample

Reflection
An illness has different meanings for the one who is suffering, for the one who is closest to the sufferer and the health care provider who is taking care of such patient.
The meaning of illness from the perspective of the person being cared for is read from an article For cancer patients(All about cancer, 2015).
From the perspective of the person closest to them, an article read is Living with a husbands chronic illness has a bad effect on his wifes health (Lewis, 2014).
From the perspective of healthcare professional caring for a patient, an article chosen is Arthur Kleinman The Illness Narratives Suffering, Healing, amp the Human Condition. (Kleinman, 2016).
I choose the second perspective that is meaning of illness from the perspective of closest member of the patient. It is the case study of a wife sharing her journey who is living with her husband suffering from head and neck cancer.
The meaning of illness is an individuals experience of physical and mental state when disease may or may not be present (Health knowledge, 2017). Using Bains 5Rs for reflection writing, I will be covering Reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing. An illness is on a whole a devastating process that affects not only the patient but also the members living close with them. The physical and mental well-being of close members also get affected in a way that it becomes incurable. It starts with the time of diagnosis and ends till the last breath the patient takes in case of chronic illness.
Reporting
I am taking a case of wife (close person of the patient) whose husband is suffering from chronic illness and how this has changed her life and has bad effect on her health. The husband had stage 4 head and neck cancer and after the surgery he got a lump along with a lot of muscles and tissues removed. He was cured of the cancer and it never returned. The cycles of chemotherapy and other treatments showed its effects after about 5 months that his health started to deteriorate. His digestive tract and lungs affected the most. His wife has a full time job and is a public speaker.
Responding
The husbands illness took over the wifes strength and has a very bad impact on her. It became very hard for her to handle the son, full time government job, public speaking, home and an ill husband. The husband used to spend most of his time lying in bed watching TV. It became very difficult for her to see husband in such ill condition. She started to get physically tired handling and managing all things alone. The chronic illness is an enduring one whereas the terminal illness has an end date. She has seen her husband fighting every day and has not ever thought of giving up.
Relating
The son and the wife of the patient must have had the worst time. The acceptance to such life is very difficult. Chronic illness gives a stress to an adult caregiver member especially when he is fighting his own fears and frustrations (American academy of pediatrics 2019). The life becomes like a hospitalization to hospitalization and crisis to crisis. Any member suffering an illness changes the complete dynamics of life of patient and everyone around. The quality of life of the close members as well as the patients gets reduced in terms of physical effects, social problems and psychological distress. They experience emotions such as frustration, stress and so on (Golics et al, 2013).
Reasoning
The illness of a family member leads to the mental turbulence of all related members. Of all the emotional problems, depression has the worst negative effect on the patient in coping up, functional status and life quality (Seo et al., 2018). The physical illness of a patient leads to the mental instability of the close members also. They may get physically tired taking care but mentally they get exhausted because of many emotions faced by them.
Reconstructing
If I will face some similar changes in my life in future, I will be more vigilant towards protecting my mental health. I will try and give full support to the family member as discussed in this case study. The primary sufferer of an illness is a patient, secondary are the family members and the ones how are close to them and the tertiary are the healthcare professionals. It is the devastating experience for all. The most important thing in illness is acceptance. I would accept the illness and the kind of difficult life it would bring with itself.
Reference
All about cancer. (2015). For patients. Retrieved from https//www.allaboutcancer.fi/living-with-cancer/for-patients/American academy of pediatrics. (2019). How chronic illness or disability affects a family. Retrieved from https//www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/chronic/Pages/How20Chronic-Illness-Affects-the-Family.aspxGolics, C. J., Basra, M. K. A., Salek, M. S., amp Finlay, A. Y. (2013). The impact of patients chronic disease on family quality of life an experience from 26 specialties.International journal of general medicine,6, 787.
Health knowledge. (2017). Illness as a social role. Retrieved from https//www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section2Lewis, K.M. (2014). Living with a husbands chronic illness has a bad effect on his wifes health. Retrieved from https//www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/living-with-a-husbands-chronic-illness-has-a-bad-effect-on-his-wifes-health/2014/07/07/f60eaa18-f62f-11e3-a606946fd632f9f1_story.htmlamputm_term.48ecb0101941ampnoredirectonamputm_term.b5608bd22719Kleinman, A. (2016). Arthur Kleinman The Illness Narratives Suffering, Healing, amp the Human Condition. Retrieved from https//adogcalledpain.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/arthur-kleinman-the-illness-narratives-suffering-healing-the-human-condition/Seo, J. H., Ryu, H. S., Lee, Y. Y., Kim, M. J., amp Choi, Y. S. (2018). A study on depression, anxiety and illness symptoms according to severity classification of liver cirrhosis patients in South Korea.Biomedical Research,29(16), 3243-3248.