Medicine - Professional Practice Essay - Factors affecting health and Illness
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Course
Professional Practice
Institution
University Of Southampton (UOS)
This exemplar essay was written for end-of-module coursework. Scored highly and can be used as a template for other essays. It was written about the factors affecting health and illness in the Uk and internationally and also includes personal experiences where some factors were seen firsthand.
There are many factors that can influence the health and illness of an individual. The World Health
Organization (WHO) defines health as the complete state of mental, social, and physical well-being –
not just the absence of a disease or illness 1. On the other hand, illness is described as a feeling or an
experience of poor health, which is entirely personal to each individual 2. Many of the factors
affecting health and illness can be portrayed by the Dahlgren and Whitehead model 3. This model
identifies factors such as socio-economic, lifestyle, cultural, environmental, and constitutional
factors which all have an impact on whether an individual presents as healthy or ill. This essay will
explore in more detail the effect which some of these factors may have on people through using my
personal placement experiences.
PATIENT X – CASE STUDY:
During my time at the respiratory clinic at Southampton General Hospital, I witnessed Patient X, a
51-year-old male, who was diagnosed with severe COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
Although this patient had already been diagnosed with asthma, he was still smoking regularly, which,
in turn, led to the development of COPD. The patient's history also revealed that he had been taking
other recreational drugs and he continues to drink large volumes of alcohol regularly. The patient's
diet had little to no nutritional value, which led to him being severely underweight. Due to his
condition and worsening symptoms, the patient found it extremely difficult to work his job and, as a
result, had to take many days off sick. This led to a reduced income and had a devastating impact on
the patient financially.
Furthermore, he was living in extremely poor housing conditions, which contained damp and lacked
the necessities of heating, clean water, and sanitation. Patient X completely relied on his landlord as
he had no other relatives or friends to support him. All of the above contributed to the presentation
of the illness that Patient X was facing. After conducting a chest X-ray, the consultant confirmed that
the damage was extremely severe and irreversible.
Combined, all the above factors, including individual lifestyle factors and a range of different socio-
economic factors, had negatively affected the patient's health. The length of time that the patient
was exposed to these conditions was likely to have had a significant impact on his physical and
, STUDENT ID: 33498016
mental well-being4. All of the above-mentioned factors will be further discussed throughout this
essay and will also be linked to other experiences.
INDIVIDUAL LIFESTYLE FACTORS:
An individual's lifestyle refers to their behaviours, the role they play in their job and their individual
choice of hobbies and diet5. According to WHO, 60% of individual health and quality of life factors
are associated with lifestyle5. In today's society: an unhealthy diet, smoking, drinking alcohol and
stress are some of the main factors that contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle 5. In most cases, these
personal choices tend to lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and many other
illnesses5. Unfortunately, some of these choices can also lead to irreversible damage, as witnessed
on my placement with Patient X.
Another placement experience I had witnessed, was a patient who attended the Shirley Health
Partnership. The patient who attended was a middle-aged male who presented with a heavy chesty
cough. He attended with his daughter, who acted as a translator. The doctor completed the patient's
observations and listened to and checked his chest. The doctor confirmed his breaths as having
coarse crackles, which suggested the patient had COPD. The doctor then asked the patient about his
history, and his daughter confirmed that he had been smoking for most of his life. When the doctor
explained the risks of smoking and the damage it had caused to the patient's lungs, the patient
denied all this information. He was also advised to stop smoking, to which the patient clearly
refused. He was then referred to the hospital to have additional tests done to confirm the diagnosis.
After the patient left, the GP discussed with me how the lifestyle of a patient could drastically affect
their health. We also discussed the effect that healthcare professionals have on influencing patients
to change certain damaging habits. In the case of this patient, he refused to quit his smoking habit
and there was little the doctor could have said or done which would have changed his mind.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS:
Poor housing
A range of socio-economic factors can also have negative impacts on health and illness. A few
examples of these include housing, education, water, sanitation, and financial difficulties. Poor
housing can have drastic effects on an individual's mental health. Poor housing has also affected
healthcare services. It was estimated in 2021 that it would cost £1.4 billion for the NHS to treat
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