Patients can experience certain developments in their health after certain types of

treatments that they have been having in a certain amount of time, as explained

before. In this research experiment, the health development of 2 groups of people,

from a local GP, with hepatitis A were being followed from the 3rd of February until

the 1st of March, so they have been followed for about a month. Patients with

hepatitis A have been chosen, because this variant of the disease is the only one with

an acute form of it. This means that the health development of the patients can be

noticed quicker than patients with chronic forms of hepatitis, because the acute form

of hepatitis usually doesn’t last longer than 5 to 6 months. The GP couldn't give us

the names of the participants of the research experiment, because that would reveal

the identity of his patients regarding their medical complaints. This would then exceed

the hippocratic oath the doctor has sworn.

 

    The following questions were answered after the information of the patients and the GP is collected after a       month:

 

• What medication or other treatment is given to the patients?

• In what period of time will symptoms of the disease decrease after treatment has been offered to the patients with hepatitis A?

• Does the patient experience the decrease in symptoms as a personal positive significant change in his of her health situation?

   

  Thoughts, hypothesises, on the research questions:

   

• For the treatment the GP will give advise the patients to not drink any alcohol, so the liver will remained unharmed for any further damage. Also, against frequent symptoms (like fevers and other symptoms the patients show) the GP will prescribe paracetamol.

• Symptoms of the disease will decrease after 3 weeks or less.

• The patient will feel personal positive (significant) changes in his or her health situation.

 

     Thoughts explained and elaborated:

 

• Hepatitis A can cause liver damage over a period of certain weeks. The liver makes sure that the alcohol will become harmless to the body. This is done via different processes which include the use of several enzymes. These processes need time and energy from the liver, which can make the liver more vulnerable. So, processing alcohol, can lead to liver damage. Therefore, the GP will prohibit the patients from drinking alcohol. Paracetamol is used very frequently to deal with flu symptoms like fevers. This is a clear symptom of hepatitis A. 

• The symptoms of the disease will decrease after 3 weeks or less, because the acute variant of hepatitis, in this case hepatitis A, is not chronic. This means that symptoms of the disease can be cured in a relative short period of time, on the contrary of a chronic disease.

• Personal positive changes will be felt by the patient in his or her health situation, because important symptoms like fevers are gone after a few weeks of treatment and medication.

 

 

In the experiment, a group of 10 people with hepatitis A was given medication and treatment, while the other group  of 10 people wasn’t given medication and treatment over a period of about a month. Both groups show the same signs and symptoms of hepatitis A at the start of the experiment. The patients came to the GP every week for a check-up on their symptoms and complaints. Furthermore, during the check-up, the GP would tell them not to forget their dose of medication (1x/steroid injection 3mL/week) and he would remind the patients not to drink alcohol, so the symptoms would decrease as much as possible during the month of treatment.

 

The symptoms of both groups at the start of the experiment include:

 

• Vomiting frequently (2x/day)

• Severe fevers

• Higher abdominal pain

• Fatigue

• Loss of appetite

• Joint pain

• Yellowing of the skin and eyes (icterus)

 

The group of people with the disease that weren’t given medication and treatment served as a control group. The function of the control group is to check if the medication and treatment did any effect. If the people in the experimental group, which was given medication and treatment, have the same symptoms as the control group, no development has been taken place in the month of treatment.

 

Materials:

 

• Steroids as medication to icterus

 

 

The GP forbid the patients from using paracetamol, because that would damage the liver even more. This is because the liver has to use much energy to break the medication down. The flu-like-symptoms would go away by itself, mentioned the GP. The only medication used was against icterus. This medication used were injections of steroids. He also advised the patients not to drink alcohol, because that would deteriorate the state of the liver even more.  The GP could give us the results of the patients of the different groups quickly after a period of about a month of medication and treatment. According to the GP, the experimental group shows less symptoms than before the start of the treatment. The control group, though, still shows all symptoms.

 

Tabel 1: Symptoms of the different groups after treatment for about a month

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, according to the GP, the decrease in symptoms were noticeable in only 3 weeks. The patients said to GP that they have experienced a significant health development in such a relative short amount of time.

 

 

After about a month of waiting, the results of the GP showed us that the patients of the control group still show all symptoms. The patients of the experimental group, however, show a development in health, because the amount of symptoms have decreased by more than 50% in a relative short amount of time. This time is 3 weeks. As mentioned earlier, in the results and in the work plan, only steroid injections were offered to the patient. Paracetamol was forbidden as medication to the patients, because that would cause more liver damage. Also, it was advised not to drink any alcohol during the period of the treatment. The patients who have experienced a development in health experience it as a significant change as well. This is because some major symptoms, which have affected their daily lives much, are gone now. These symptoms include: vomiting frequently (2x/day), severe fevers, higher abdominal pain and joint pain.

 

 

Our predictions, hypothesises, to our research questions of the experiment were partially correct, because 2 of the 3 hypothesises were correct. This means that 1 hypothesis can be rejected, namely, that the medication that would be prescribed by the GP would only consist out of paracetamol and that further treatment would be the advise of the GP that patient shouldn’t be drinking alcohol for the treatment period.

One hypothesis that can be accepted is that the symptoms have decreased in a period of 3 weeks or less. In this case, 3 weeks. The other accepted hypothesis is that the patient does feel a personal positive and significant change in his or her health situation after the treatment.

To have the best decrease in symptoms as possible, so the best results as possible, the GP had weekly check-ups with the patients to tell them not to forget to take their medication and he would remind the patient not to drink any alcohol during the period of treatment.