23 Nov 2022

61

The Holistic Patient Assessment

Format: APA

Academic level: College

Paper type: Essay (Any Type)

Words: 1637

Pages: 5

Downloads: 0

The Holistic health assessment will focus on Christopher Davis, who is a 32-year-old male, and who happens to be my uncle. The main objective of the holistic health assessment is to study the individual's health as a whole to identify the key aspects that concern their health. The paper will focus on addressing a wide range of factors that relate to the health condition of the mentioned individual based on the key elements of a holistic assessment.

Part 1 

Health History 

In 2019, Davis was admitted in a hospital-based in California following increased signs and symptoms associated with a burning sensation when passing urine. During this time, he complained about bowel pains and experienced blood spots in his urine. A diagnostic test conducted discovered that Davis suffered from prostate cancer. The oncologist handling his case provided a recommendation of 3-month chemotherapy and hormone therapy, which would play a significant role in managing prostate cancer.

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Additionally, Davis was put under medication, which would help in killing the cancerous cells in his body. The medication prescribed by the physician included Docetaxel and Degarelix, which have an important component that helps in killing the cancerous cells in the body. An analysis of the history of the disease among relatives indicated that Davis was the first individual to suffer from cancer among all his relatives. The medical history indicated that Davis began experiencing symptoms of the disease seven months prior to the diagnosis. During the seven months, he lost control of his sphincter bladder muscles, which resulted in frequent involuntary urination.

Physiological Assessment 

The main issues identified during the physiological assessment included urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Davis experienced involuntary urination, considering that he had lost control over his bladder sphincter muscles. He also experienced abdominal pains and a burning sensation when passing urine. Additionally, Davis could not achieve an erection following a radical prostatectomy that was conducted to him after the prostate cancer diagnosis. The erectile dysfunction resulted in impotence, which is a factor that was associated with damaged nerves in his peni s. 

Psychological Assessment 

The series of events associated with Davis health impacted on his mental health, leading to the development of maniac behavior, which led to his admittance in a mental health facility. In the mental health facility, his psychiatrist raised various concerns regarding his mental health, thus prescribing medication that would help to improve his mental health by overcoming the manic behavior. The psychiatrist provided a recommendation of a 12-week program that would focus on analyzing the individual behavior portrayed by Davis. Additionally, he prescribed anti-depressant medications that would help deal with the mental health issue presented. Although Davis is considered a jovial and enthusiastic person, the prostate cancer diagnosis resulted in a change of behavior resulting in antisocial behavior. The development of antisocial behavior is attributed to psychological stress and depression that resulted from the prostate cancer diagnosis. 

Social Assessment 

Prior to being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Davis engaged in a wide range of social activities, which included playing soccer and basketball in the local teams within his area. In 2017, Davis was the captain of a local soccer team and was enthusiastic in all activities that involved playing soccer and engaging in social interactions. However, upon the development of urinary incontinence, Davis quit playing soccer and basketball and refrained from engaging in any form of social interactions with peers. On the other hand, his wife Winnie left him following the development of complications associated with prostate cancer, which rendered him impotent thus he could not sire children. 

Cultural Assessment 

Considering his cultural beliefs, Davis believed that traditional medicine have the ability to provide more appropriate remedies for any form of illness. In this case, he believed that the medication prescribed to him by the physicians in the hospitals played a significant role in deteriorating his health condition. Additionally, Davis blamed the oncologist for causing the erectile dysfunction following the recommendations of chemotherapy sessions and radical prostatectomy. 

Developmental Assessment 

A developmental assessment conducted indicated that Davis had lost hope in life following the prostate cancer diagnosis. The signs and symptoms associated with the disease make a patient feel miserable, considering that they are not in a position to interact with other people effectively (Gillessen, Attard, Beer, Beltran, Bossi, Bristow, & Daugaard, 2018). Additionally, he considered himself as a failure as he would not achieve anything substantial following issue such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. 

Spiritual Assessment 

In all his life, Davis had been a devoted Christian who engaged in different activities that involved serving in the church and helping those that required help. Following the prostate cancer diagnosis, he shunned away from the church and did not engage in any religious activity. His drastic change from being a dedicated Christian to being an unbeliever was attributed to the fact that he felt that God subjected him to the sufferings despite being faithful in engaging in religious activities. Davis believes that the disease is placed upon him as a curse and as punishment from the supernatural beings. 

Part 2 

Physiologic Abnormality 

The findings from the holistic health assessment indicates that Davis has a physiological abnormality, which is erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction involves the inability to have and maintain an erection that is considered sufficient to have sex. The pathophysiologic reasons associated with the abnormality involves damaged nerves on a patient’s penis. Nevers have a significant role in ensuring that a penis has the ability to achieve and maintain an erection for an individual to engage in sex. From a more holistic approach, the abnormality resulted from radical prostatectomy, which is a procedure that involved removing prostate glands. The procedure, which sought to cure prostate cancer may have led to damaging of the nerves in the penis, thus resulting in the erectile dysfunction.

The abnormality has a major impact on an individual’s life both physically and emotionally. It is important to note that erectile dysfunction results in impotence thus meaning that an individual may not have the ability to sire children. In this case, the effect creates a psychological impact whereby an individual may feel useless. Additionally, the abnormality results in the development of antisocial behavior considering that an individual tends to feel secludes as he cannot perform like his peers. Ultimately, the abnormality results in depression and stress, which may prompt the development of severe mental health conditions.

Stress and Coping Mechanisms 

The findings from the holistic health assessment indicate that Davis experienced stress and depression that is associated with a prostate cancer diagnosis. The main cause of the stress includes symptoms associated with urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, which made him miserable in life as he felt that he would not live like other people. The fact that he did not have the ability to interact with other people effectively due to his inability to control his bladder muscles resulted in the development of stress, which played a major role in impacting on his mental health. As part of managing stress and depression, Davis used different medications that helped in relieving symptoms associated with stress and depression. To relieve pain associated with migraines, he uses pain relievers that help in creating a short-term relief. Additionally, his psychiatrist placed him on an antidepressant, which helps in relieving symptoms of depression such as anxiety. 

Other strategies recommended to him to help in coping with stress include listening to music and watching interesting movies and documentaries that would help in diverting his attention from his illness. Additionally, Davis joined a support group for prostate cancer patients, which is a program that focuses on motivating the patients and giving them hope of healing and living. The strategies implemented for coping with stress help in boosting his self-esteem, which is an important aspect of the healing process. His parents and close relatives attest to the fact that the stress coping mechanisms are healthy and have a positive impact on bettering his health and overcoming signs and symptoms associated with stress and depression. The future impact of the mechanism involves creating a sense of belonging among the patient to ensure that he has the ability to interact with people despite the condition, which is regarded as chronic (Rahbar, Ahmadzadehfar, Kratochwil, Haberkorn, Schäfers, Essler, & Bartenstein, 2017). 

Part 3 

Teaching Plan and Client Goals 

An analysis of the psychological assessment of Davis indicates that he desperately needs helps considering that he feels miserable and worthless, considering that he has prostate cancer. In that case, Davis has developed negative attitudes towards members of the society and therefore he prefers to stay alone. The main goal, in this case, involves enlightening him on the need for interacting with members of the society. Engaging in interaction is important as it would help in ensuring that he is in a position to manage stress (Shankar et al., 2019). 

The main objective of the Physiological assessment involves ensuring that he understands that prostate cancer is a manageable condition. In that case, the most critical aspect would involve following doctors’ recommendations and adhering to every single instruction provided. 

On the spiritual assessment, Davis must work towards restoring his religious faith and spirituality. Spiritual devotion may have a significant role in ensuring that he is in a position to appreciate life and thus have the ability to cope with the condition. To achieve the given goal, he must attend church services and other religious meetings that may help in providing encouragement. 

Based on the cultural assessment, Davis must be enlightened about the modern technologies involved in treating chronic conditions despite his strong cultural belief in traditional medicine. Obtaining the given goal would help him to appreciate the professional care provided by the doctors and may enable him to be corporate in different recommendations offered. 

The main goal associated with social aspect involves increasing social interaction with peers and friends. Engaging in interactions with friends and family would help in reducing the anti-social behavior portrayed and may enable him to cope with depression and other symptoms associated with stress. 

On the developmental aspect, the main goal involves engaging in counselling and mentorship programs that would help him to begin feeling good about himself despite the condition. Engaging in the mentorship programs will help in ensuring that he regains his interests in sports and games and ultimately help him to manage stress. 

Evaluating the teachings will involve engaging in close follow-ups with the patient to ensure that he adheres to every aspect mentioned within the teaching plan. The ability of Davis to regain his old self as it was before the illness will indicate efficiency and success in the teaching plan. 

References 

Gillessen, S., Attard, G., Beer, T. M., Beltran, H., Bossi, A., Bristow, R. ... & Daugaard, G. (2018). Management of patients with advanced prostate cancer: the report of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference APCCC 2017.  European urology 73 (2), 178-211. 

Rahbar, K., Ahmadzadehfar, H., Kratochwil, C., Haberkorn, U., Schäfers, M., Essler, M. ... & Bartenstein, P. (2017). German multicenter study investigating 177Lu-PSMA-617 radioligand therapy in advanced prostate cancer patients.  Journal of Nuclear Medicine 58 (1), 85-90. 

Shankar, P. R., Maturen, K. E., George, A. K., Borza, T., Ellimoottil, C., Montgomery, J. S. ... & Davenport, M. S. (2019). Temporary health impact of prostate MRI and transrectal prostate biopsy in active surveillance of prostate cancer patients. Journal of the American College of Radiology 16 (10), 1385-1392. 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 15). The Holistic Patient Assessment.
https://studybounty.com/the-holistic-patient-assessment-essay

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