Assessment and diagnosis of patients
For this case scenario, detailed information would be necessary for the assessment and diagnosis of the patient. One of the questions I would ask concerns the onset of the symptoms. Another question I would ask the patient concerns the symptoms because they characterize a disease, and in case of another underlying condition, the symptoms being experienced by the patient would be very instrumental in making a diagnosis. The other question would concern the medication he had been taking as well as his medical history. While the case describes that he has not been taking the medications for his condition, it would be necessary to ask of any other cheap medications, especially over the counter that he could be taking. Also, his medical history would let me know of any other conditions that he might be having that could cause his Crohn’s disease to flare up. Lastly, I would ask about smoking or drinking behaviour to assess whether the substances could be aggravating his condition.
I would respond to the patient’s scenario by first, advising the patient to involve his family and friends to support him through and come up with a plan to raise the amount required for his medication fills (Iseselo et al., 2016). Secondly, I would refer the patient to pharmaceutical assistance programs as well as local and regional assistance programs that deal with patients struggling to afford their medications (Bussell et al., 2017). At this point, I can go ahead and create an online application for the patient and follow up on the application to ensure that the patient gets assistance as soon as possible. Lastly, I would prescribe generic alternatives whose prices are lower to ensure affordability of the medications for the patient (Patel et al., 2018). Through this response, I would be providing the patient with alternatives that are cheaper and affordable to ensure that he keeps taking his medications.