Stages-of-Life and the Influence of Age in Health Care From a Patient's Perspective

Stages of Life Essay and Interview
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Stages of Life Essay and Interview
The healthcare services delivery varies from one patient to another because of the distinguishing personal characteristics that influence the approaches employed by the healthcare providers. According to Orenstein and Lewis (2021), human beings transition through eight stages of life, from infancy to old age. This activity involved selecting a friend or family member in any of these phases of life and conducting an interview to assess their life experiences and interactions with healthcare systems. The selected interviewee was a 78-year-old male family friend suffering from type 2 diabetes and obesity. Findings from this interview revealed the quality of interactions with different care providers and caregivers throughout his care.
While responding to the question of whether the stage of life affected the interactions with health practitioners, the interviewee confessed that he was visiting the health facilities more often, unlike in the past 20 years. He noted that he could count over five times he had to visit his doctor without including the consultations through the phone calls. Other than battling diabetes, other diseases, including the common cold and flu, require a visit to healthcare facilities, which rarely happened in the past. His arguments are consistent with Jaul and Barron’s (2017) observations that the illness’s probability increases with age. The interviewee lamented that he was forced to completely adjust his lifestyle, including food intake and regular but light exercise, to maintain his mobility and minimize the severity of his illnesses. Such aspects are consistent with his stage of life due to the increased vulnerabilities that require improved care and attention.
The interview uncovered that the patient regularly visited the diabetic clinic. The interviewee’s responses revealed that he was scheduled to see his care provider monthly for follow-ups and clinical examinations to ensure he does not develop ulcerations that can quickly progress into foot complications. His responses align with arguments by Mariam et al. (2017) that flag diabetes foot as the leading issue of concern in elderly patients with diabetes. The author underscores the value of regular examinations since their probability of occurrence rises by up to 15% among this population, leading to morbidity, mortality, or disability. As a result, the diabetic clinic being the most crucial hospital area concerned with the interv...