Cerebral palsy (CP)
Issues a case manager should be aware of while providing assistance
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a movement disorder which affects children at the initial stages of life. The symptoms of this disorder encompass weak muscles, tremors, and lack of coordination. Babies who experience this condition cannot sit or walk. In some cases, these babies cannot crawl and have difficulties in hearing and vision. This paper explores two research articles. In the first article, Arnould et al. (2015) focused on the effect of brain lesions on the functioning of the hand among children with cerebral palsy. The authors observed that the lesions in the brain disenable children with CP to carry out most activities by their hands (Arnould, Bleyenheuft & Thonnard, 2015). In this regard, there is a need for the case manager to recognize the difficulties that children with CP face while living a life other than normal. These children need assistance in virtually every aspect of their lives. In the other article, Bjorquist et al. (2015) explores the transition of adolescents with CP into adulthood. The authors argue that this transition requires a departure from child-oriented care to adult-oriented care to enable people with CP to live fulfilling lives. Care managers should take cognizance of the vulnerability of people with CP and provide them with care. CP presents physical and mental challenges to the affected people. These challenges have implications on the provision of oral care. While dealing with this client population, case managers can obtain accurate medical history of the patient. This information can help in determining the appropriate person to provide legally the informed authority regarding treatment of CP.
Care managers can ensure that this client population have well-defined paths to facilitate their movement within the treatment context. In this regard, no equipment or instrument should be found in the area of movement. Patients who are unable to move out of their wheelchairs can receive treatment while seated. It is upon the care manager to ensure that these individuals receive the best treatment in the healthcare settings. People with CP have irregular body movements due to tension in the muscles. In such cases, care managers should ensure that the environment around which care is provided is supportive and sensitive to the needs of people with CP.
My individual analysis vis-à-vis the articles
In my view, CP is an undesired disorder which causes a lot of physical and emotional pain to the patient and the family members. Providing care to babies with CP at the tender age involves a lot of cost and time. Studies reveal that the disorder results from an abnormal development of the brain. The part of the brain responsible for movement may be damaged during pregnancy or childbirth. During these conditions, the life of a baby is usually at risk. The predisposing factors of this disorder include preterm birth exposure to methylmercury and difficulty in delivery. Arnould et al. (2015) added that CP is the most common disability problems in children. This proposition implies that children are at a greater risk of acquiring this disorder. The inability of the brain to facilitate the movement of the children is the reason such children cannot use their hands normally to perform tasks.
Summary of selected articles
The articles focus on the challenges people with CP undergo. Arnould et al. (2015) focused on the impact of the brain lesions on the functioning of the hand. From the article, the author attributes CP to early attacks on the corticospinal truck. Thereafter, the condition interferes with various parts of the body that mostly are appendages necessary for coordination in the human body. Very severe conditions may further extend and even hinder ones, ability to do simple daily activities like washing utensils, moving objects and even bodily beneficial activities like personal grooming and taking food. The second article explores the plight of adolescents as they transition to adulthood under conditions of CP. At this age, these adolescent experience trauma and feel out of touch with the rest (Björquist, Nordmark, & Hallström, 2015). They, however, need a lot of assistance from almost all the activities they would want to get involved in including movement. At this age bracket, however, those who suffer from CP begin to realize a lot of things about themselves and can sometimes suffer mental torture. It is, therefore, a very critical age for care managers when handling since the onset of mental torture on a patient’s life determine. It is also at that age that CP victims require a lot of guidance and counselling so as to enable them come to terms with their conditions and learn how they can live with the conditions.
References
Arnould, C., Bleyenheuft, Y., & Thonnard, J. L. (2015). Hand functioning in children with
cerebral palsy. Arm and Hand Movement: Current Knowledge and Future Perspective, 5(48), 88.
Björquist, E., Nordmark, E., & Hallström, I. (2015). Living in transition–experiences of
health and well‐being and the needs of adolescents with cerebral palsy. Child: care, health and development, 41(2), 258-265.
