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ENG 3010
Frederick Linck
Project 3
Professions and Their Discourse Communities in Cardiovascular Disease
The Medical Field group initially consisted of eight members. The group consisted of two
physical therapy majors, two biology majors, two nutrition majors, a kinesiology major, and a
major in mortuary sciences. It was agreed among the group to open with one of the biology
majors that discussed cardiovascular disease and how it affects heart function. Biology is a broad
subject so it was decided that it is better to start broad and then proceed to narrow the subject
down going into the other majors. Next, the two nutrition majors explained both dietary causes
of cardiovascular disease and a diet recovery plan. Our kinesiology/physical therapy majors
talked about cardiac rehabilitation as well a method of prevention. The mortuary science major
introduced the objectives of a medical examiner. I talked about the different health professionals
and touched on discourse communities.
Being a larger group, there were a couple challenges our group had to overcome. One of
our physical therapy majors left the group and we had to adapt from there. Initially, my part of
the presentations was supposed to be on the functions of the heart and was changed to
professions and discourse communities. I had to research more to find information about other
fields I had little to none knowledge on. One of the biggest challenges was group meetings. Not
everyone was able to make it to most of the meetings. This made it difficult to time ourselves
and organize material. When the group did meet, we were limited to where we could practice. In
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the Undergraduate Library, most of the study rooms were taken forcing us to find alternative
places to practice. With the Wiki, our group managed to collaborate despite all the challenges we
have faced.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in America (Kochanek
2011). One might argue that there should be a more organized and preventative method of
treating it than to wait till the last minute. A patient with cardiovascular disease requires the help
of numerous health professionals to get back on track to a healthy lifestyle. These professionals
have important roles that synergize well to improve the quality of life in patients with
cardiovascular disease and also to determine the cause of death in patients with a history of heart
problems.
There are many health professionals that are involved with cardiovascular disease.
Primary care physicians have an important role when treating patients with cardiovascular
disease. They are usually the first health professional to know that the patient has some sort of
heart disease. The patient is usually referred to a cardiologist, a heart specialist, that performs
treatments like cardiac catheterization and angioplasty (Schreiber 1995). Cardiac catheterization
is used to diagnose any heart problems and angioplasty is the insertion of a balloon-like device in
an artery to open closing vessels. Physical therapists are assigned to prevent or rehabilitate
patients with problems involving the movement system (Rose 1989). They conduct tests to find
initial and potential problems the patient might have. If someone has recently died, it is the job of
a forensic pathologist to determine whether the death was a homicide or even due to a heart
attack.
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The discourse communities related to cardiovascular disease are very separate but indeed
work together in some way. A primary care physician may refer their patient, to a cardiologist,
through the patient's chart. The patient's chart is a universal tool that allows each health
professional to communicate about the patient. A physician may communicate with their patient
using pamphlets or business cards to direct them in the right direction. A big role of a forensic
pathologist is to testify in court. In order to do this, they must convert the information from their
discourse community into a language understandable by the general public. Communication is a
critical part when treating patients with heart disease.
Health professionals have significant responsibilities that work together to improve health
in patients with cardiovascular disease and methods of determining the cause of death in those
with heart disease. Physicians help direct patients to other specialists for further care.
Cardiologists provide heart related treatments that regular physicians cannot provide. Physical
therapists work to strengthen and prevent loss of mobility in patients. Forensic pathologists play
an important role in determining the cause of death in patients with cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease can be fought with the help of many individuals who are just doing their
jobs.
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Works Cited
Kochanek K., Xu J., Murphy S., Miniño A., & Kung H. (2011). Deaths: Final data for 2009.
National Vital Statistics Reports, 60(3) 1-117.
Schreiber, T., Elkhatib, A., Grines, C., & O'Neill, W. (1995). Cardiologist versus internist
management of patients with unstable angina: Treatment patterns and outcomes. Journal
of the American College of Cardiology, 26(3) 577-582.
Rose, S. (1989). Physical therapy diagnosis: Role and function. Physical Therapy, 69: 535-537.