Gout

Treatment and Management of Patients with Gout
Ralph is a 58-year-old Hispanic male who measures 5’9 and weighs 194lbs. Ralph has worked as a UPS delivery worker for the past 20 years he enjoys the job because it keeps him active and not sitting behind a desk all day. Ralph was born in Uruguay, growing up he was very active, he would walk to and from school every day and after school play soccer outside until dinner time. He grew up eating dishes like steak, breaded chicken with some type of starch such as, rice or potato salad. Occasionally, his parents would splurge and treat Ralph and his 4 siblings to some ice cream after dinner. Besides that, sweets were not that common in his house.
As an adult Ralph when he was married he and his
A study was done to show how well patients diagnosed with gout are given adequate information on their condition and found medical information provided to patients to be lacking. Questionnaire forms were sent out to 500 patients and 240 responded. Of those 240 respondents they reported receiving very little knowledge on how to manage their condition (Harrold, et al., 2012). The majority of the respondents had some type of knowledge that gout was related to uric acid and the flare ups were caused by crystals forming around the joints (Harrold, et al., 2012). Patients had very little knowledge of what foods in their diet triggered gout flare ups and lacked awareness of the risk involved with gout flare ups (Harrold, et al., 2012). Many of the respondents incorrectly labeled certain foods like vegetables, chicken and legumes as gout triggers (Harrold, et al., 2012). Knowldege on short term and long term treatment was also limiting. Participants were aware of the long term risk with some of the medications they were being prescribed (Harrold, et al., 2012). This raised concerned with Harrold, et al., they stated that physicians may lack the time to teach their patients on proper treatment and management of gout in other words, many patients are just being treated for the symptoms not long term care (Harrold, et al., 2012). particpants were all mostly cared for by their primary care physician a few were treated by rhematologisht. Harrold, et al., suggest that more education is needed patients need to be taught. Information needs to be given both orally and in writing and regular follow-ups appointments are also very important for treatment and management (Harrold, et al.,