Menorrhagia and Amniocentesis
Instructions: Utilizing appropriate medical terminology anatomy, briefly discuss and summarize what the physiological and health concerns are pertaining to the patient case to fellow health care team members.
Research and discuss the cultural, religious, and/or societal perspectives and issues that are associated with the patient case utilizing credible and accurate references.
Identify possible personal or other health care team members’ values and morals that may be at odds or conflicting with the patient case that may affect professionalism and interaction with the patients.
Solution.
Menorrhagia and Amniocentesis
Case 1: Menorrhagia
Excessive bleeding during menstruation is also known as menorrhagia. It occurs mostly in adolescent girls who lately started menstruating and older women approaching menopause. Medically, different factors can lead to excessive bleeding during menstruation period. To begin with the patient might be experiencing hormonal imbalances that trigger the massive development of the endometrium that comes out as heavy menstrual blood (Maybin, 2013).Menorrhagia causes iron deficiency anemia and severe pain to a patient. There are other causes of excessive bleeding in teenagers which include fibroids, polyps or other infections (Shaw, Brickley, R, Evans, & Edwards, 1998). Socially, studies show that Menorrhagia has an adverse impact on the quality of a woman’s life (Gokyildiz, Aslan, Beji, & Mecdi, 2013). According to the patients’ religion, menstruation does not mean that a woman is unclean. Islam explains that menstruation is a natural process that connects with preparedness to pregnancy in a woman. Medical anthropology is the study of how the culture views conceptions in health, life, death, medicine, and science. Culturally, different communities see menstruation from various perspectives. For example, this disorder can be treated with drug therapy or surgery when worse. Drug therapy involves medications like iron supplements, tranexamic acids, NSAIDs and so on. Surgery includes dilation and curettage and uterine artery embolization for those with fibroids.
Case 2: Amniocentesis
It is administered to
pregnant women as a test where a sample of amniotic fluid in the uterus
is tested to see if the baby has abnormal conditions majorly chromosomal. Such
a diagnostic test is not a routine test, rather, it is a test offered for clarity purposes. Such a test is offered at around the 15th week
of pregnancy. Amniocentesis is administered
to know the conditions of the baby if the
parents had some genetic disorder. Sociocultural perspectives towards
amniocentesis argue that some cultures, especially in Muslim communities, do
not allow the test because it a child is sacred and a test is an act of doubt to Allah. Professionalism issues also
arise when doctors perform an amniocentesis (Seals, Ekwo,
Williamson, & Hanson, 2010). As a professional, informed consent must be provided to the
family members before conducting the test. Allow the patient the right to
autonomy. It is a doctor’s moral
obligation to amend grief and trauma to the patient in case of any result from
the test.
References
Gokyildiz, S., Aslan, E., Beji, N. K., & Mecdi, M. (2013). The Effects of Menorrhagia on Women’s Quality of Life: A Case-Control Study. ISRN Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/918179
Maybin, J. A. (2013). “Re-definition and Re-classification of Menstrual Disorders.” . Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine , 23(11), 331-336.
Seals, B. F., Ekwo, E. E., Williamson, R. A., & Hanson, J. W. (2010). Moral and religious influences on the amniocentesis decision. Social Biology, 32(1-2), 13-30.
Shaw, R. W., Brickley, R, M., Evans, L., & Edwards, M. J. (1998). Perceptions of Women on the Impact of Menorrhagia on their Health using Multi-attribute Utility Assessment. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 105, 1155–1159. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.1998.tb09968.x