Interviewing a Person with Life-long Condition: Nursing Care Needs and Impact

Learning Outcomes

1. Discuss a long term condition, including pathophysiology, lifespan considerations and potential illness trajectory.

2. Evaluate the impact of a long-term condition on the patient/client, their family/wh?nau/Hap?/Iwi and the social construction of the long term condition.

3. Discuss the nursing care needs of patients/clients with life-long conditions, including palliative care and symptom management

In this assessment you are asked to interview a person diagnosed with a life-long condition. The purpose of this interview is to gain an appreciation of how living with a life-long condition has affected their life, lifestyle and that of their family/whanau. The person you select for this case study may be a friend, a colleague, or someone in your family, although NOT an immediate family member e.g. parent, sibling or child whom you are providing direct care for. Check with your lecturer if you are unsure.

Provide your interviewee with the approved UCOL information sheet and consent form (available only from BN712 lecturer). Your interviewee must be prepared to provide some initial information and sign the consent form prior to the interview taking place. It is expected that you will maintain the strictest confidentiality relating to personal details of the person, and health care professionals or institutions involved in their care at all times. Your portfolio will not be marked if a signed consent form from the person you have interviewed is not attached to your portfolio and/or confidentiality is not maintained

Negotiate with your person to find a convenient time and place to conduct your interview. You will need to ensure that their privacy is maintained at all times. Your interview will take approximately one hour and you will collect your data by writing notes which will supplement the information the person has provided on the information sheet. Audio or visual recording of your person is not permitted.

Task 1: Introduce the person, their social circumstances and their lifelong condition. Provide an overview of the current impact of the illness on the person in their daily life.

Task 2: Describe the typical onset, pathophysiology and potential illness trajectory of your person’s lifelong condition, lifespan considerations, possible illness trajectory and Evaluate the impact of the lifelong condition on the patient/client, their family/whanau/Hapu/Iwi

Task 3: Discuss the social construction of the lifelong condition

Task 4: Identify and discuss the nursing care needs of your person including palliative care and symptom management appropriate to the present stage of their condition