RESPONSE DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS TO RESPOND TO:
Respond to your colleagues suggesting an additional biomedical theory or model that may be utilized in their specific practice area. Also provide additional insights on how the theory helps improve health care practices and thus health outcomes.
Note what you learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments made by your colleague
The purpose of this discussion board post is to differentiate among theories within the basic, or pure, sciences, and consider how they may be applied to improve outcomes in health care
The Web of Causation
One biomedical theory used in health care is The Web of Causation Theory. The Web of Causation Theory was developed by MacMahon and Pugh in 1970, in order to explain how a disease or disability could be caused by multiple factors. Before the development of the theory, it was believed that diseases were not attributable to more than one causative factor (Ventriglio, Bellomo, & Bhugra, 2016). It’s important to recognize that diseases can have multiple causative factors and therefore the resolution to the problem would not be simple in nature (McEwin & Wills, 2019).
This theory relates to improved patient outcomes in several ways. One way that this theory relates to improved health care is because it proposes that several risk factors can contribute to the complexity of a diseases, and it gives providers a chance to address them all in an effort to improve the overall health of the patients. Another way that this theory relates to improved health care is because it helps predict future outcomes and allows for more prevention strategies.
Natural History of Disease
The Natural History of Disease Theory refers to the progress of the actual disease process over time (McEwin & Wills, 2019). This theory was developed by Leavell and Clark in 1965 (Jewell, 2016). One example related to this theory would be applying tertiary preventions for a patient with a history cancer. The patient has already been diagnosed with the disease and tertiary prevention strategies would be put into place in an effort to improve their quality of life. Another example related to this theory would be secondary prevention strategies for a smoker. A secondary strategy for a smoker would be screening for lung cancer.
Resources
Jewell N. P. (2016). Natural history of diseases: Statistical designs and issues. Clinical
pharmacology and therapeutics, 100(4), 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.423
McEwin, M., & Wills, E. M. (2019). Theoretical basis for nursing. (5th ed.) Philadelphia,
PA: Wolters Kluwer Health.
Ventriglio, A., Bellomo, A., & Bhugra, D. (2016). Web of causation and its implications
for epidemiological research. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 62(1), 3-4. doi:10.1177/0020764015587629