The case of a 55-year-old woman called Maria presenting with multiple illnesses. She has type-2 diabetes mellitus, is an obese patient with hypertension, and previously suffered from myocardial infarction. Maria is a Hispanic who resides in a poor district within a metropolitan area. With a low income, she hardly has any access to healthcare. She also only attained high-school level education and mostly speaks in Spanish. Her residence is an overcrowded, noisy, high-pollution apartment house in an area with few open grasslands.
Factors Influencing Maria’s Health
Maria’s chronic diseases, obesity, and recent heart attacks threaten her physical health. Limited resources and knowledge make it hard for her to manage diabetes and live healthily. However, Maria is suffering from depression and anxiety as a result of health problems. Her poor mental health is further compounded by her inability to cope with her economic distress as well as social isolation. Her Hispanic background influences her health beliefs and practices. Her trust in traditional remedies is very high, while her confidence in Western medicines remains low (Bhardwaj et al., 2023). Effective communication with healthcare providers might also be a problem if there are language barriers. With limited income, Maria lives in a neighborhood where she cannot afford to purchase medication, good food, or quality healthcare. Maria’s educational background may limit health literacy and knowledge of medical conditions (Birk et al., 2019). The stress and environmental factors include those such as her poor living conditions in a crowded and polluted neighborhood, which could add to the stress level of her health outcome.
Health Continuum and MSN-Prepared Nurse’s Role
Currently, Maria lies at the lower end of the health continuum. She has chronic health conditions, recent heart attacks, mental health issues, and limited health resources, which put her in compromised health. These obstacles limit her chances of attaining optimum health status. An MSN-prepared nurse can support positive health outcomes for Maria through a holistic approach and expanded competencies in advanced assessment, pathophysiology, and pharmacology in the following ways: Therefore, the nurse will explore all other aspects of Maria’s well-being like her psychosocial, cultural, economic, educational, and environmental. Individualized treatment programs will be based on this evaluation (Peter et al., 2021). The nurse should explain to Maria why it is essential to take care of herself by adopting appropriate health practices. The nurse will need to have advanced knowledge of pharmacology, which will enable them to choose suitable drugs for Maria and teach her how to administer themselves, possible side-effects, as well as the importance of compliance with the therapy. It means that Maria’s cultural sensitivity must apply, and it should involve integrating practices that reflect the culture in her care plan. Effective communication can also be facilitated using language interpretation services. A nurse prepared by MSN should educate Maria about nutrition, exercise, and stress management (Peter et al., 2021). Moreover, the nurse may also fight for her economic and social issues regarding resources and support services.
Looking Ahead
My practice as an MSN-prepared nurse would be more appropriate when competent in advanced health assessment, pathophysiology, and pharmacology. This will help me offer holistic nursing care and consider other parameters affecting the good health of persons such as Maria. This information will help me develop evidence-based care plans, promote health literacy, and fight for equality in healthcare provision. When asking age-appropriate and culturally inclusive questions to demonstrate an open mind and respect for differences, consider the following: Begin with non-specifying questions, which will make it easy for people to discuss what they believe and have been through. Do not assume things by age or culture (Swan et al., 2019). Instead, discuss individual interests and beliefs. Active listening requires showing genuine concern and caring about an individual’s unique circumstances as well as active involvement in listening. Always take a friendly approach when asking questions to help the person feel listened to and appreciated.
References
Bhardwaj, R., Sharma, S., Mishra, S. K., & Shivhare, A. (2023). System for Predicting Multiple Illnesses. Journal of Big Data Technology and Business Analytics (e-ISSN: 2583-7834), 2(2), 20-25. https://matjournals.co.in/index.php/JBDTBA/article/view/2086
Birk, J. L., Kronish, I. M., Moise, N., Falzon, L., Yoon, S., & Davidson, K. W. (2019). Depression and multimorbidity: Considering temporal characteristics of the associations between depression and multiple chronic diseases. Health Psychology, 38(9), 802. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-21944-001
Peter, L. J., Schindler, S., Sander, C., Schmidt, S., Muehlan, H., McLaren, T., … & Schomerus, G. (2021). Continuum beliefs and mental illness stigma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of correlation and intervention studies. Psychological medicine, 51(5), 716-726. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/continuum-beliefs-and-mental-illness-stigma-a-systematic-review-and-metaanalysis-of-correlation-and-intervention-studies/BA1F5FB6ED897BC7BF4EA11B3DB07FC2
Swan, B. A., Haas, S., & Jessie, A. T. (2019). Care coordination: Roles of registered nurses across the care continuum. Nursing Economics, 37(6), 317-323. https://www.proquest.com/openview/efc8dc84b9840eb7f50a544eeb839e7a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=30765
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