Meeting The Miller's

Meeting The Miller’s
Name
Institution
Abstract
In the recent past, there has been a growing interest in traditional complementary and alternative medicine based on their significance to treatment. To achieve improved health, different medical systems have always been suggested including integration of alternative and complementary medicine as in the case of Ellah in the case study. The primary aim of Ellah choosing alternative medicine is to help her heal emotionally and physically based on the family religious beliefs and social structures and cultural background.

Meeting The Miller’s
Introduction
Alternative medicine means seeking other ways of healing apart from the conventional ways that do not have any scientific backing. Alternative and complementary medicine includes several ranges of practices, products and procedures. Examples include the traditional practices of acupuncture, one of the China old healing methods. Complementary medicine is an alternative way of combining the conventional way of treatment and other non-scientific methods of treatment for desirable outcomes. It complements other treatment meaning that it is an integrated approach to treatment used in addition to conventional care. The growing number of users of alternative medicine is evidence as this case study highlights how Ellah has been dealing with cancer for many years as she prefers using alternative medicine. This is a quick shift that has been witnessed in the recent past in America (Buckley, 2003).
Ellah represents 80% of people preferring to use alternative and complementary medicine by incorporating traditional medicine in health care decisions (Buckley, 2003). Ellah having faced with cancer resorted to using alternative complementary medicine due to the limitation of conventional medicine. Her husband, coming from an Indian decent living in America, has greatly influenced her decision because Indian tradition have always adhered to their traditional beliefs of healing because it is part of their traditional heritage. These methods help in the healing process both physically and emotionally. When comparing the two, alternative and complementary medicine versus conventional medicine, Ellah and is family members are faced with the dilemma of choosing which one is more preferable based on the type of illness (Buckley, 2003). In relation to Ellah’s case these could be some of the reasons why she prefers alternative and complementary practices because she wanted to stick to the family tradition because of the benefits that she is well aware of.
Alternative and Complementary Practices
Ellah’s case is an example of how individuals’ health choices are influenced by several factors including race, the health condition of the patient, gender, age, education background and geographical area. Many researches have concluded that many people majorly use alternative treatment for prevention purposes, but prefer to use both alternative and complementary medicine and conventional medicine for treatment (Smyer & Stenvig, 2007). Ellah and her family still value conventional treatment but they also rely on alternative and complementary medicine because of some of its positive outcomes that have been witnessed in the past.
Reasons for Using Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Ellah’s decision of using alternative and complementary medicine have several advantages includes being attended to in a personal way. The method is sensitive to culture in that it will respect her cultural views of patients. The method is affordable with very minimal side effects that occur once in a while. Compared to other normal ways of treatment, alternative and complementary medicine provides several treatment options than conventional medicine, which only provides two options for dealing with diseases, either by surgery or using drugs. Consideration is only placed on the specific area that has been affected by then but not focusing on the whole body to avoid future recurrence of the problem. Based on scientific research conventional medicine treat patients in the same way yet illnesses do vary that requires different approaches. Conventional treatments require doctor to focus on one area meaning they have to specialize in certain areas, limiting their capability of providing a comprehensive treatment to patients. In addition, conventional medicine comes along with several medical errors and other risk related to conventional medicine including death that have increased in the past (Smyer & Stenvig, 2007).
Conventional medicine does not provide effective solution to patients; that is why many people including Ellah’s husband are motivated to use alternative medicine as the answer to some of the questions conventional medicine have not effectively addressed. Using an integrated approach means combining the alternative method and conventional ways for a better outcome. Ellah preferred being treated in a holistically way because she was aware that the method is a natural process with minimal side effects that would focus on all aspects of his life, not just in a specific area. Ellah also felt that this method would bring satisfaction because it offers long -lasting solution for disease treatment and future prevention strategies (Smyer & Stenvig,2007).
Ellah and her family members are aware of the fact that integrative care providers spend more time with patients knowing them at a personal level. This provides the opportunity for the provider to be aware of the individual needs and desires of the patient. Therefore, it is a patient’s centered approach to diagnosis and treatment that may improve both the patient and caregiver satisfaction. Integration can improve patient personal decision and enhance its emotional and physical well being. There is evidence that the combinations of conventional and complementary treatment results to better outcomes than conventional medicine alone. Alternative and complementary medicine uses natural healing process like herbs and is considered to be safe as it produces fewer toxins to the body. It also makes the body be stronger preventing it from any future illness (Smyer & Stenvig, 2007).
Biological Basis for Care and Choices for Care Might Affect the Other Family Members
Families are faced with a hard task of making the right decisions that comes from a wide range of treatment choices with varied medical conditions. Looking back at Ellahs family, different family members have varied health problems including his son who is alcoholic, her daughter is diabetic with her grandson having drug problem. Lucy, her granddaughter, and Sarah, her daughter in law, are stressed up owing to the various medical conditions in the family. Some of their problem originates from psychological demands, spiritual needs, traditional requirements and medical needs. Based on these needs, some of the choices would include deciding on what kind of caregiving processes can be of help. Patients have varied requests influenced mainly by his cultural background or his level of education on the best way of live especially when terminally ill (Davidson,2014).
The Psychological and Social Issues
Patient choices to the type of care may vary, as some patients would prefer to undergo different processes before death; for example, based on his cultural beliefs, a patient would request to undergo some ritual during his final days while others would want to reflect on their achievements. Religious influence also affects a patient’s choice of care as the patient may want to follow the religious practices which include confession of sins, to prepare to meet God during the final journey on earth. Some patients’ conditions might influence their psychology in that they might decide to ask for forgiveness from the family members if he felt he ever wronged them in any way. In some cultures, family members’ choices might be influenced by beliefs which are limiting. Some culture it is issues of alcoholism and stress are viewed as individuals turning away from the guidelines set by the tradition; therefore, it is not viewed as a psychological problem that needs treatment. In addition, some religions believe that sickness needs divine intervention to heal (Davidson,2014).
The Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Influences Affecting both the Patient and the Diverse Family Members
Since cancer is a life threatening disease, it comes with a lot of psychological effects on both the patients and the family members. Pain is always inevitable. Therefore, to ensure emotional relief, determining which type of intervention would be more appropriate for the patient would be necessary. Cultural influences are one of the main factors that affect patients and family member’s decisions. Culturally death is considered a process where everyone has to pass through to receive eternal life after death. Therefore, some of the actions the family members might consider is ensuring that patients are well prepared by undergoing the cultural requirements before death. In relation to other health issues affecting Ellah’s family including diabetes, alcoholism and stress, culturally they might be looked at as bad omen, meaning that one has to undergo some cultural cleansing to heal, compared to conventional treatment. Religion is also an influential factor for both patients and families a...