NURS 6052 Discussion: Patient Preferences and Decision Making
Patient Preferences And Decision Making Experience
Case: High Blood Pressure
A 60-year-old male patient had been diagnosed with high blood pressure. He had two options, to immediately start taking medicine or try lifestyle modification. Since his blood pressure was so high at 173/120 he decided to immediately start taking medicine for he needed to lower his blood pressure quickly. Though the diagnosis was shocking to him, participating in decision making helped to make him less anxious. He also had a better understanding of his condition. He was compliant with his medication which brought about an improved health outcome. The patient was also more open to cost-effective drugs that helped in managing his blood pressure (Stacey et al., 2017). Lifestyle modification can be an option when blood pressure is not higher than 160/100 when there are no comorbidities or organ failure. If lifestyle modifications do not bring down blood pressure to the desired level, then pills are recommended (Burke et al., 2018).
Impact Of Patient Involvement
Positive impact: Patient participation enhances trust and reduces a patient’s anxiety. He gains a better understanding of what is needed of him which improves his quality of life. It ensures the delivery of more appropriate and cost-effective services without much resistance. The patient will actively participate in his healthcare process and more carefully monitor their care.
Negative impact: Robs the doctor autonomy and confidence as the patient will keep checking if what is being done is in line with what he had decided. It is time-consuming as it involves a lot of consultation. The patient may opt for a treatment modality that the doctor is not well conversant with. Does not give the doctor room for exploration (Ankolekar, et al., 2018).
References
Ankolekar, A., Dekker, A., Fijten, R., & Berlanga, A. (2018). The benefits and challenges of using patient decision aids to support shared decision making in health care. JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, 2, 1-10.
Burke, R. E., Jones, J., Lawrence, E., Ladebue, A., Ayele, R., Leonard, C., … & Cumbler, E. (2018). Evaluating the quality of patient decision-making regarding post-acute care. Journal of general internal medicine, 33(5), 678-684. Stacey, D., Légaré, F., & Lewis, K. B. (2017). Patient decision aids to engage adults in treatment or screening decisions. Jama, 318(7), 657-658
