What is your illness model?

Baycare Presentation 5.19.15
Part I

Health professionals know about acute and chronic models of illness. Many patients do not. A broken bone, ruptured appendix, and strep throat are examples of acute illness. The onset is usually swift and clear; a bone is sticking out of your arm, you are in excruciating abdominal pain or you can barely swallow, have a fever, and white patches in your throat. Acute illnesses are easy to diagnose. There is little doubt about treatment. A cure is common. In fact, most people get better and go back to living normal lives. This is the model of illness for most patients.

For a third of Americans, that model just doesn't work. We are the people with chronic illnesses. At the beginning, symptoms come and go. We might even doubt whether we had symptoms in the first place or if the symptoms were all in our head. Just like your tooth stops hurting when you go to the dentist or your car stops making that noise when you get to the mechanic, symptoms of chronic illness may disappear by the time you see the doctor. As symptoms increase in frequency and severity, we begin the diagnostic journey. Not only do many chronic illnesses lack clear diagnostic tests, each illness brings a few illness buddies along to confound the diagnostic process even more. Finally, we are relieved to find out that what we have has a name. Now we can get better! Not so. Treatment for chronic illnesses and the illnesses that come along in overlap is anything but clear. Trial and error may be the norm until the doctor finds just the right combination of treatments. Now we can get better! Not so. Cures for chronic illnesses are rare. So why bother with treatment? Patients and providers, alike, need to remember that in the absence of a cure, the goals of treatment are to reduce and relieve symptoms, slow the progress of disease, and prevent permanent damage.

If patients hold onto the acute illness model is it any wonder that they are angry because they do not get better? Is it any wonder that patients who receive treatment but don’t get restored to full health are frustrated? Is it any wonder that, without hope of a cure, patients become non-compliant?