Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

It is Dr. Travis who proposed the health-illness continuum hypothesis about half a century ago. It suggests that human health is not a permanent condition. Given the present biophysical and environmental conditions, an illness may disrupt a human’s well-being at any point along the health-illness continuum. There is a medium center point on this wellness continuum that suggests the person is in excellent health with no disharmony. The extreme wellbeing end of the spectrum is located at the farthest point on the right hand side. The farthest point on the left signifies early death or a deteriorating condition of wellness (Nazar, 2017; Nursing Fundamentals, 2015; Wellness Inventory, 2018).The purpose of this paper is to discuss the health-illness continuum as it applies to humans and their wellbeing. Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

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Significance of the Health-Illness Continuum to Health and Patient Care

The wellness spectrum is a clever approach of swiftly assessing an individual’s possible healthcare needs. This is significant because as more people go to the left side of the spectrum, there is a health crisis of monumental proportions. This situation can be extended to the general public and have an impact on how solutions are allocated. For example, health officials may need to focus more on secondary prevention and population health initiatives for people who are on or near the farthest right of the continuum or wellbeing. The reasoning behind all of this is because while individuals experience wellbeing, you try to keep them strong and healthy. This could include teaching the healthy individuals on topics such as cancer and diabetes detection. It could also imply teaching well people on changing their lifestyle choices, such as giving up bad food and giving up cigarettes. Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

The health practitioner may choose to aggressively address the ailments of persons on the left of the spectrum prior to allowing them to go from the left to the right. Care planning in this setting is fully dependent on the numbers reflected by the health-illness continuum. Indeed, Burke (n.d.) believes that by just looking at the health-illness continuum, the entire public health system may gain a sense of the means necessary to address the public’s health issues.

 The Health-Illness Continuum and Its Connection to Dignity, Promotion of Human Flourishing, and Value  

A healthcare professional such as a nurse will be able to grasp how individuals fluctuate between the right and left sides of the health-illness continuum if they fully understand and appreciate the health-illness spectrum. The health-illness spectrum provides the nurse with helpful information about the percentage of people who are sick and those who are well at any given time. The nurse can then plan for the population’s care from an informed position. According to Burke (n.d.), knowing about the health-illness continuum will help the healthcare practitioner manage both health and sickness. Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

Reflection on the State of Health and the Health-Illness Continuum at a Personal Level

Extending the examination of how the health-illness continuum influences the healthcare practitioner, it is important to emphasize that the healthcare professional must choose where they fit on the health-illness spectrum. The reasoning behind this is that, as a human being, the healthcare professional is likewise expected to understand where they fit on the health-illness continuum. This is because, as in the case of Covid-19, an ill healthcare professional can affect and impact practically everyone they come into contact with. A fit healthcare practitioner can also provide high quality care in a comprehensive and cheerful fashion.

Workaholism, which tends to lead to exhaustion, is one of the habits that interfere with personal health and wellness.  The other is increased stress as a result of spending a lot of time working than at home resting. As a result, one is or finds themselves on the far end of the right arrow on the health-illness continuum. However, much like other ordinary people, healthcare professionals require health promotion treatments to stay on the correct side of the health-illness spectrum. Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

Resources Available to Support Wellness

There are numerous choices available to maintain one and others on the healthy-illness continuum. Continuous learning is just one of those. As much as this continuing professional training helps the professional as a healthcare practitioner and gives tested evidence-based practice solutions to clients; they may also profit from it and apply the very same suggestions to themselves, their families, and their situation. The other tool is one’s co-workers in the medical field. These are peers who will be more than willing to provide one with advice and counsel if they begin to slide to the left side of the health-illness continuum.

Conclusion

As introduced by Travis nearly fifty years ago, the health-illness spectrum is a graphical portrayal of any population’s health. It is a tool that can assist healthcare personnel in efficiently planning care and providing the anticipated quality of care. The health-illness continuum picture of the communities they serve is a particularly important planning tool for public health agencies. Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion

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References

Burke, A. (n.d.). Health promotion and disease prevention: NCLEX-RN. RegisteredNursing.org. https://www.registerednursing.org/nclex/health-promotion-disease-prevention/

Nazar, A. (2017). Health illness continuum. https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/arifasudheer/health-illness-continuum-80612835

Nursing Fundamentals (2015). The health-illness continuum. https://brooksidepress.org/nursing_fundamentals_1/?page_id=115&cn-reloaded=1

Wellness Inventory (2018). Three key wellness concepts. https://www.wellpeople.com/WhatIsWellness.aspx Human Experience Across The Health-Illness Continuum Discussion