The burden of long-term conditions is substantial. An estimated two out of three New Zealanders have at least one long-term condition – that is, an ongoing or recurring health issue significantly impacting on their lives and those that care for them.
As the baby boomers age, so will the burden, as the prevalence of chronic illness like cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD) increases with age. The burden is particularly high on MÄori and Pacific people, with chronic conditions accounting for 80 per cent of the difference in life expectancy between MÄori and non-MÄori.
This issue looks at nursing’s role with helping patients manage and live with long-term conditions.
We look at nurse-led heart clinics, a respiratory nurse practitioner’s work with the morbidly obese, and nurses’ views on primary health diabetes care before and after the demise of the Get Checked scheme.
And we talk to nurses at MÄori health providers about whÄnau ora approaches to helping struggling whÄnau back on their feet as an essential step towards better managing their chronic health conditions.
“Silent misdiagnosis”
This edition’s RRR professional development activity looks at the rhetoric around self-management of long-term conditions and the role that nurses’ clinical expertise and care play in a patient’s health decision-making. It can be a delicate balance, as a recent paper Patients’ preferences matter: stop the silent misdiagnosis argues. The paper, published by English health policy charity The King’s Fund, says misdiagnosing patients’ preferences for their care may be less obvious than misdiagnosing disease, “but the consequences for the patient can be just as severe”.
