Understanding Acute vs. Chronic Conditions in Healthcare - Essay Sample

Introduction

Most primary care providers suggest that timely recognition of causes of particular illnesses enhance health and minimizes costs but does not guarantee the future healthcare requirements (Smita, 2015). Acute and chronic diseases have similar causes because long-term illnesses contain acute exacerbations and expose individuals to short-term diseases. A recurring acute illness can have features of chronic diseases. This essay will discuss the differences between acute conditions and chronic conditions.

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Acute diseases commonly develop instantly and stay for a short period, which can be days or weeks (Buurman, Frenkel, Abu-Hanna, Parlevliet, & de Rooij, 2016). Acute illnesses are caused by infections, viruses, injury from falling, automobile accidents, drug abuse, and misuse of medications. Some of the acute diseases include toothache, broken arm, flu, asthma attack, burn, heart attack, pneumonia, and common cold (Anderson, 2019). Short-term conditions are commonly located in a particular body area and react positively to treatments. Acute diseases have adverse signs and symptoms, get worse for a while, and then heal after some time. Also, acute conditions lack a long-term impact on a person, and diseases like flu or common cold can heal without treatment. Individuals with acute conditions only require primary care during the treatment phase.

On the other hand, chronic diseases develop gradually and might worsen over a long period. Chronic conditions result from unhealthy activities that increase disease exposure (Buurman et al., 2016). These behaviors include smoking, misuse of alcohol, inadequate physical activities, poor nutrition, and genetic, environmental, and social factors. Examples of chronic illnesses include arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, stroke, and diabetes. These diseases commonly affect numerous systems, and it is difficult to predict the future fate of the conditions. Sometimes, it is hard to detect the signs and symptoms of chronic diseases because they are slow and keep reoccurring for an extended period. More resources and care are required to maintain a healthy lifestyle to a patient with a long-term condition (Smita, 2015). Patients with chronic diseases are always under nursing care. Nurses have a critical responsibility to help individuals with chronic illnesses and their families. Additionally, chronic diseases have prolonged effects that might lower the self-esteem of a patient.

There are distinctive differences between acute diseases and chronic diseases. It is important to distinguish both conditions for nurses to provide the best healthcare. Some of the differences discussed in the paper include the detection of signs and symptoms. Acute diseases occur instantly, while the signs and symptoms of chronic diseases grow gradually.

References

Anderson, N. (2019, December 24). List of Acute Diseases. Retrieved from https://healthfully.com/list-of-acute-diseases-4188911.html

Buurman, B. M., Frenkel, W. J., Abu-Hanna, A., Parlevliet, J. L., & de Rooij, S. E. (2016). Acute and chronic diseases as part of multimorbidity in acutely hospitalized older patients. European journal of internal medicine, 27, 68-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2015.09.021

Smita. (2015, August 13). Difference between Chronic and Acute. Retrieved from http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-chronic-and-acute