quality of life

During my placement on a head injury unit, i encounted various issues and situations that really made me think about quality of life. One in particular was a 25 yo man post head injury who presented with only high level balance problems. His primary problems were cognitive and he could barely retain any short term memory, lacked simple initiation and struggled to follow more than 1 stage commands. This young man always had a smile on his face and was a pleasure to treat.

I lost sleep just thinking about quality of life. this man would need a carer 24/7, he wouldn't even be able to cross a road by himself. So many thoughts went through my head. Where do you draw the line? what will this person ever achieve? His family will now be consumed by his existence; his g/f is waiting for the old him to come back. I know i would do the same if it were one of my family but is it worth it. Yes my personal views were pessimistic but i couldn't help it.

It seems as though medicine at present is caught inbetween enhancing their ability to save more and more severe head injuries, however we are left with more and more patients that require long term care. I guess it is just time before medicine improves even further.

I have learnt on this placement to put myself in the families position as much as i can and i continue to treat to my capacity in effort to maximise each patient's potential. In this particular case the patient is always happy and would brighten up the day of anyone he sees. Even though he is not the same as before he makes small improvements everyday. If anyone else has a different perspective on similar issues i would love to hear and continue to widen my awareness.