Patient Narrative Essay

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Patient Narrative This assignment aims to discus the story of the patient and her experience of lupus by focusing on social, cultural and psychological factors and their influence on health and illness beliefs. In respect of Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC 2008), I gained consent prior to interview; also the name has been changed to ensure confidentiality. Claire is a 35 year old, African female, in a relationship suffering from Lupus for the last 6years. Because of lupus, Claire suffered nerve damage, weakness in the legs and she is registered partially sighted. The view of illness held by health professionals such as doctors, consultants and surgeons is termed as the biomedical model. (Senior, M and Viveash, B. 2007). The bio-medical model sees health as the absence of biological abnormalities and disease as having specific causes. The model relates the human body to a machine that it can be repaired or restored to health through treatment that reverses the disease process. People have illnesses and physicians diagnose and treat diseases. Disease is the malfunctioning of the body/part of the body, which is diagnosed on basis of signs and symptoms whereas illness is the subjective experience of pain, discomfort and disorders. (Taylor, S. and Field, D. (2005). People express their view on health in narrative form, which allows good patient-centred care. Patients’ stories enable them to be heard and being that the patient and the doctor both see thing differently, the narrative helps to connect with the way the patient sees the world, which allows doctors to understand patients better and empathise with their illness experience. (Clark, J. 2008). The doctor-patient relationship should be mutual by actively involve patients as equal partners in the medical consultation as this allows exchange of ideas and sharing of beliefs. For example doctors to share

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