Chronic Illness and Palliative Care. Master Nursing Essay

Chronic Illness and Palliative Care. Master Nursing - Essay Example The discussion in this paper will be based on the principles of care of a patient with a chronic illness which is asthma in attempts to explore three main concepts, living with asthma and patients quality of life; the client's empowerment through self-management care and the continuity of care in a multidisciplinary team approach with a palliative care setting. According to the definition provided by the World Health Organization (1990), "Palliative care is the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain or other symptoms and psychological, social and spiritual problems in this context are of paramount importance" (pp. 804). Regarding shared values and ethics in palliative care, ethike is a Greek word from which the word ethics is derived. Ethos is a value which one has and consistently applies to one's life. Within the palliative care setting, there are three aspects of patient care that need special attention: the realms of t he palliative care patient; the realm of the palliative care nurse; and the realm of the palliative care team. ... Scott was diagnosed with asthma at age of six years. There are some factors such as dairy products; shellfish; electrical storms and dairy dust that trigger his asthma attacks. Scott is married, but his wife left him three months ago and his condition gets worse and the house does not have the same standard as before. In his effort to find alleviation of the symptoms of asthma, Scott attends his 45 to 49 year old health assessment for the first time. The Patient's Diagnosis Scott was diagnosed with asthma at age of six years. His asthma is a chronic condition. Recently, Scott is complaining of bad asthma attack which stopped him to attend his work as usual. Additionally, Scott has psoriasis and the history of having it is unknown. However, the nurse practitioner should conduct a thorough health assessment in order to gain furthers details about the diagnosis of both disease, treatment, and the way of self management that is followed by Scott in order to control over his condition. Me asuring the severity level of asthma is determined by the physician by asking the client to have a lung function test (LFT), which a breathing test that identify whether the person is having asthma and its severity. Another test that can be done easily by the patient is spirometry, which is an instrument that is considered to be the most accurate test to determine asthma (Department of Health and Aging, 2010b). Living With Asthma Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways and lung. It is characterized by wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. There are some of the risk factors that contribute to trigger asthma attack such as colds and flu, air

Product Design Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Product Design - Assignment Example Although the basic design concept of producing a product in answer to a consumer need has remained relevant and valid, so much has changed in the objectives, processes, methodologies and techniques to arrive at the end product. Kassi reports that in the beginning of the old era some 250 years ago, the focus was more on product quantity than quality as the demand for products was not yet developed and the production processes were crude. Certainly, there was emphasis on cost reduction but this was without regard to the quality of the end product, an attitude that was carried through till the beginning of the scientific era and on to the period when industries began mass producing. The scientific managers carried forward their time-motion studies, process analysis and queuing theories which consequently became seeds for the moving assembly line, linear programming and statistical sampling that were being used in mass production. This mass production system became vogue up to the latter part of the 20th century, by which time the market has fully bloomed and demand has ripened for new products. This heightened demand signaled the beginning of quality in production, but the moving production line was not up to par with the costs it involved. Hence, new methods were sought and thus began the use of computing, automation and lean production systems that ushered in such concepts as just-in-time, CAD design, electronic data interchange and TQM, among other late concepts. (Kassi, 2008). Inside that process of evolution, equally evolving was product design as it is now known. It is the aim of this paper to take a close look at product design and examine its role in the modern configuration of business, particularly as it is being promoted to take on a responsibility in achieving competitive advantage for a business firm. Product Design As a general concept, product design would simplistically refer to the process by which new products are designed and produced. But Achenie et al (2003) look at product design as a series of steps leading to the completion of a product that is ready for use. The steps involved are define the needs, generate ideas to meet the needs, select the best idea and manufacture the product (Achenie et al, 2003). On the other hand, Synthesis Engineering Services may be a biased information source for this research but it would be worthwhile to look at their conceptual presentation of the steps in product design. Their presentation shows a very clear picture of the whole process from identifying the bright idea to defining the requirements to information gathering and planning to design to prototyping to production (Synthesis, 1996). This sequence is, in fact, aligned with what Luecke (2003) offers as a process involving the generation of ideas, evaluation of these ideas, development of the selected ideas and conversion of the ultimately chosen ideas to useful products. It is easy to see that product design is the key process, if not a strategy, in the overall effort of an organization to achieve outstanding end results. Cresswell et al (2004) agrees that it is in product design where new products or product improvements emanate and take form. Looking at it another way, product design is the driving force of a company’s initiative at creativity and innovation. Luecke (2003) believes that, if innovation is what will put the