Living with a long term condition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Living with a long term condition - Essay Example She was doing well under the care of her daughter, but after two years at home, many of her symptoms recurred including her hallucinations, paranoia, delusions of grandeur; she was also manifesting disorganized speech and thought processes. She was hearing voices and was often heard talking to her hallucinations; she also insisted she was a Queen and must be treated as such; and she was easily distracted and had trouble organizing her thoughts. She was also refusing to take her medications. After appropriate evaluation, she was admitted to the mental health unit. I met the patient after being assigned to her care as a mental health nurse. In evaluating her condition, she has been schizophrenic for six years now with her symptoms being manageable for the better part of four years, but due to an untoward incident – the death of her husband, her symptoms have become unmanageable again. Angela is now 56 years old, has had two grown children, and has been recently widowed. She has worked as a school teacher up to the time when her initial symptoms manifested. She has since opted for early retirement due to her condition. When she was brought home after four years in the mental institution, she has had a limited social history. She has opted to not engage in any social interactions because she felt ashamed of her condition. Her family members have remained supportive of her and they have done their best to maintain social interactions with her. Within the mental health unit, she is a shy and socially awkward person. At times, she can also be gregarious with other people, especially when her delusions of grandeur are manifesting. However, she also tends to be suspicious of everyone including the health staff and the patients. This makes her resistant to interactions and to the medical interventions which the health staff are administering. Long term conditions are those conditions which basically require prolonged medical care (London Health Observatory, 2011). The World Health Organization (Department of Health, 2005) describes that long-term conditions or chronic conditions are health issues which call for continuous care over a period of years or even decades. It includes conditions like cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypertension, and mental disorders including schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease (London Health Observatory, 2011). The patient’s mental illness is considered a long-term condition because it would require continuous management. In short, it is a life-long disease which would require constant supervision and treatment. The patient would have to take medications for the rest of her life to manage her symptoms and she would have to be monitored in order to ensure that her symptoms would not endanger her life and the life of other people. 2. PLANNING THE CARE a. What interventions were planned – what is the evidence based for this? Interventions which were planned primarily included the administr ation of antipsychotic medications. The management of schizophrenia most often includes antipsychotic medications (Brown University, 2012). The patient was to be placed on Risperidone (Risperdal) which is an atypical antipsychotic. Risperidone is currently preferred as an antipsychotic because it does not cause agranulocytosis, which is commonly seen in clozapine, another antipsychotic (National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Risperidone however can increase a patient’s risk to diabetes and hypercholestolemia; as a result, regular monitoring of the

Singapore Airlines External Factor Analysis Essay

Singapore Airlines External Factor Analysis - Essay Example Singapore Airlines, initially the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, started operations as an independent airlines company in 1972. The company has gained a strong position in the airline industry and the route network now has expanded to over 90 destinations in more than 40 countries. The company has been able to achieve competitive advantage through product and experience based differentiation as it pioneered the concept of entertainment and innovation in flight. It was the first airline to introduce hot meals, alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, fragranced towels, and video on demand for the cabin crew members. The crew members are youngest in any airline industry in South Asia and they use the â€Å"Singapore Girl† as the symbolic representation of the company’s commitment to quality excellence and service delivery (Singapore Tourism Report, 2011). Further, the airline keeps the youngest fleet of aircrafts in order to minimize its fuel costs and has an impressive business model which is responsible for its astounding success. It has an efficient financial infrastructure developed and incorporates innovation and strategic management to adapt to the rapidly changing external environment of the industry. As it is the national airline, it is present in the markets of South Asia, East Asia, Europe and America. Therefore, Singapore Airline operates in a highly competitive market thus external environment is of particular importance to its strategic management and leadership. The External environment has an important impact on the airline industries in Asia especially after the augmentation of terrorism across the world. With the changing external trends globally Singapore Airlines is faced by many micro and macroeconomic pressures, socio-cultural changes, political and legal factors and also the technological pressures to constantly innovate. Below is an analysis of the four external factors affecting Singapore Airlines. Political This refers to the political set up and government intervention in the business sector. The government usually discourages private monopolies and hence would encourage competition. This means Singapore Airlines has to watch for political barriers in host countries for example it withdrew the stake in Air India because of the privatization programme of Indian government (BBC News, 2001). The government’s lobbying activities or policies regarding privatization, protection of domestic industry, contracts or subsidies can al l affect the international firms like Singapore Airlines. In politically unstable countries like India and Pakistan, the Airlines will be subject to much uncertainity in operations and will have to incur additional security costs. Even in Singapore, it does not receive any government subsidies despite the fact that it is a national airline (John, 2010) Social Factors Social factors pertain to the societal changes in tastes, preferences and consumption patterns of the consumers. A change in income levels of the society means more people can afford to travel by air rather than by rail or car hence, there can be an increase in the sales of Singapore Airlines domestic and international flights (Hill, 2008). Moreover, changes in social habits like increased preference of entertainment on flights poses a greater pressure on Singapore Airlines to provide such features to the travellers. The crash of Singapore Airline flight SQ006, at the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport in Taipei, mea nt that the company had to compensate the agitated families of victims with a total amount of $400,000 (BBC News, 2001). Moreover, the increased trend of online shopping also requires Singapore Airlines to regularly update its website and offer online selling and booking of airline tickets in Asia. The increase in terrorist activities however, has a