Critical Essay on a case study
Briefly explain the Engel (1977) Biopsychosocial Model which you will use for your assessment. Remember that the basic premise is that to understand a person’s medical condition, it is not simply the biological factors to consider, but also psychological and social factors. In other words, we are treating the whole person, not just the medical symptoms. You need to put this in your own words, also thinking about why it is important to treat the whole person and whether or not this is still a valid model to use.
Identify a patient’s need (health problem) and assess it holistically from the biological, psychological and social aspects (this relates back to the model).
For example, if your case is a patient with exacerbation of COPD. You identify dyspnoea (biological) associated with anxiety (Psycho) and lack of self-care (social needs), as these issues are based on the biopsychosocial model. You need to focus on critiquing one aspect of care dyspnoea. Critique its management (pharmacological and non-pharmacological). How biopsychosocial factors are linked with the exacerbation? And any suggestions? You only need to focus on patients with one aspect of care.
