Patient Educational Plan Paper

The patient is the 29 year-old woman diagnosed with the Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). The patient was diagnosed two months after the birth of her first child. The patient has come unprepared to the disease because she needed the professional assistance of health care professionals to change her lifestyle and to start the treatment immediately to maximize its effectiveness. In fact, the patient used to lead an active lifestyle. She participated in various social activities, did volunteer jobs, made quite a successful professional career and had positive relationships with her husband. However, her disease became a serious challenge to her social, professional, and personal lives. In this respect, it is particularly noteworthy that the patient has just started to improve her position at the workplace as she had prospects for the promotion but the birth of the child and the PID that followed shortly after the birth of the child had put under a threat her future professional development. At any rate, the patient needs to undergo the treatment to recover from the PID and to return to the normal lifestyle. In such a context, the patient, taking into consideration her age, could continue her education focusing on distant learning that will maintain her professional skills and abilities and extend her professional knowledge, whereas she undergoes a course of treatment. At the moment, the patient has the college education and she can carry on her education. However, she definitely needs the educational plan concerning her health problem because it is only through understanding of her current health problem she can cope with the disease and facilitate her recovery.

In actuality, the patient has already started to undergo the treatment, including medication that minimizes the development of negative effects of the disease and slows down its progress. The patient belongs to the middle class with the higher education. The patient has developed a successful professional career but her current health problems prevent her consistently from the maintenance of her traditional lifestyle, whereas her career opportunities have reduced substantially because of her health problems (Giri, 2004). In such a situation, the assistance of the professional psychologist may be very helpful because a psychologist will help the patient to take a positive view on her life that will overshadow negative effects of her health problems.

At that time, the patient came unprepared to the disease because she did not know what the essence of the disease is, what its major causes and effects are but she definitely suffered from the ongoing deterioration of her health, which health care professionals slowed down when the treatment had started. In such a context, the patient definitely needs to have special education to learn more about the disease. The educational plan would focus on provision of the patient with detailed information on the causes of the disease, its development, and possible treatment.

First, it is necessary to start with the causes of the pelvic inflammatory disease because the patient should know the causes to minimize the risk of the ongoing exposure to risk factors that can cause the deterioration of her health. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the PID is associated with sexually transmitted infections. As a rule, the cause of the infection is C. trachomafis, which is the cause of the PID in 60% of cases (Lauren, et al., 2003).

However, the cause of the disease can be not only C. transhomafis but also the organisms that are normal for vaginal flora. In addition, the disease can be provoked as a co-infection in the result of interaction of different organisms. In such a situation, the patient should be conscious of the cause of the PID and start the treatment to decrease its destructive impact on her body and health.

Furthermore, the patient should learn the essence of the disease. Basically, the PID is the inflammatory disease that may affect the female uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. Gradually, as the disease progresses, it can lead to scar formation with adhesion to nearby tissues and organs. At the late stages of the disease, the tissue necrosis, and abscess formation can occur. In such a context, it is obvious that the early diagnosis of the PID is very important because it helps to prevent the negative effects of the development of the disease. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the development of the PID may have serious complications the patient should be aware of.

One of the complications is scarring inside the reproductive organs, which occurs normally at the late stages of the development of the disease, when it was not treated properly and in time. Moreover, in the most severe cases, the PID can lead to infertility of the patient who is a particularly dangerous in terms of physical and psychological health of the patient. Being conscious of such a risk, the patient should take care of her health and cooperate with health care professionals to recover from the PID and to avoid the development of complications. In some cases, the disease can lead to scarring tissue on the external surface of the liver when the infection spreads within the body of the patient.

The treatment targets at the slowing down of the development of the disease and prevention of the infertility in the patient. In actuality, the infertility can be restored effectively due to tuboplastic surgery, which was the main approach to correct tubal obstruction or adhesion formation (Smith, et al., 2007). However, this treatment was not always effective and today the in vitro fertilization is used instead. At any rate, the in vitro fertilization is the main approach to the treatment of infertility in patients affected by the PID.

As for the treatment of the PID proper, specialists (Loscalzo, et al. 2001) lay emphasis on the fact that the antibiotic treatment is essential for the success of the treatment.  To stop the infection health care professionals should help the patient to recover from the disease and antibiotics help to meet this goal of the PID’s treatment. At the same time, the hospitalization of the patient may needed if the antibiotic treatment does not bring positive, long-lasting effects.

Furthermore, the patient should be aware of the effective methods of the prevention of the development of the disease because the infection may affect other people not the patient solely. Therefore, the patient has regular gynecological exams with STI testing, treating partners to prevent reinjection or spread of the infection; avoid vaginal activity, especially intercourse, after the end of pregnancy.

Obviously, the treatment of the patient and the development of the disease will raise a number of challenges the patient will need to overcome. Therefore, health care professionals should prepare the patient to these challenges. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that one of the major challenges the patient should be aware of is the necessity to change her traditional lifestyle (Loscalzo, et al, 2001). In fact, fact the development of the PID forces the patient to change her lifestyle to avoid the deterioration of her health. For instance, the patient needs to change her diet and focus on the consumption of the food that acceptable in case of the development of the PID (Walker & Wiesenfeld 2007). In addition, she should be very careful in regard to physical activities to minimize exhaustion of the body that increases the risk of the deterioration of her health and accelerated development of the PID.

Furthermore, the patient will face the problem of the maintenance her professional performance because her health problems can distract her from her professional job and she may face the problem of being unable to perform all her professional duties as well as she used to. Consequently, the patient is likely to have problems with her further promotion and career development. At this point, the psychological assistance may be very helpful because the deterioration of career prospect can cause depression and other psychological problems, which in their turn can provoke the deterioration of the physical health of the patient.

Nevertheless, the patient should learn as much as possible about the PID, its causes, essence, development, and treatment. The patient should be confident in health care professionals and aware of potential risks, which she has to minimize through the change of her lifestyle. The recommendations give above may be helpful and the treatment of the patient with the PID can be successful. In this respect, the understanding of the essence of the disease by the patient may be crucial because if the patient is aware of her health problem, its causes and effects as well as possible and effective treatment, she will be able to cooperate with health care professionals effectively and tackle her health problem successfully.

Thus, the patient should be aware of the numerous challenges she may face because of her health problem but she should come prepared to the treatment and believe in the recovery. In this respect, the medication may be an effective treatment but the psychological state of the patient is also extremely important. She needs to have the assistance from the part of health care professionals as well as her husband to prevent the ongoing deterioration of her health and recover.