Families and Challenges of Illness

Course overview

Chronic illnesses present many challenges to the stability of the family unit. With the number of individuals living with a chronic illness increasing, these challenges will place more demands on the family. It will be imperative for healthcare providers to be knowledgeable about the challenges facing these families and how to support them. As chronic disease progresses and individuals enter palliative care, more profound changes occur. The support of the interdisciplinary team will become even more important in providing the care that the patient and family require. This course discusses how chronic illnesses impact families and the steps that healthcare providers can take to improve outcomes. This course identifies these challenges and the interventions that the healthcare team can use to create more favorable outcomes. Not having this information can lead to increased patient and family stress as well as poor outcomes for the whole family unit.