Table of Contents
Introduction
Diabetes is a medical condition that affects a good number of people in the society. There are two types of diabetes: type I and type II. Type I diabetes refers to the body inability to produce enough insulin while type II refer to the total failure by the body use insulin produced in the pancreatic cells. The two types of diabetes affect patients in the same way. Since the insulin is not utilized in the body, there is accumulation of glucose in the blood system leading to body complication. Diabetes is a global health concern as it is reported that world prevalence stands at 285 million, a figure may further increase to 439 million by 2030 (Meetoo, McAllister & West, 2011). Development of Type II diabetes begins with a precondition in that the body contains higher glucose level than it requires. The aforementioned statistics are worrying and as such, it is necessary to come up with intervention plans to help in the management of diabetes.
The problem facing the global community in managing diabetes emanates from lack of adequate awareness. Therefore, as much as the nurses and the medical practitioners in general would want to attend to patients’ needs, there is laxity on the patients’ side. People shy away from knowing their blood sugar levels regardless of the health challenge that it poses. In order to keep the prevalence rate down, nurse must come out of the hospitals and sensitize the community on the dangers of high blood sugar in the body. Carrying out education campaigns on diabetes will play a significant role in community sensitization. It would be significant to carry out self-care education for the patient with diabetes and those who do not have any type of diabetes. Literacy assessment on any health issues according to Stiles (2011) should focus on “improving communication with all patients, and reducing the effects of low health literacy,” (p. 38). Communication to the community members should be devoid of medical jargons to enable the people to understand the message being driven.
-
0
Preparing Orders
-
0
Active Writers
-
0%
Positive Feedback
-
0
Support Agents
Different people have different understanding abilities. In addition, there are those who prefer audio messages while others prefer visual media. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the nurses and other campaigners to identify the most popular medium to communicate to the people. This will boost individual understanding on the education concepts being covered in an education session. Nurses and other campaigners also need to adopt teach-back method to monitor if the audience really understands to topic under discussion. It can be done by inquiring the audience to put the information in their local language. The teach-back method will let the nurses to judge if all the main concepts have been well mastered. The teach-back method is a proved nursing intervention concept that yields positive results on improving the patients’ retention ability. Patients and the unaffected people should also take a lead role in fighting diabetes because as Zoffmann & Kirkevold (2005) posit, diabetes has been propagated by the inability of patients to cope up with the condition.
Diabetes intervention requires effective management of the self-care, which is a responsibility of the oncology nurses. It involves education on the significance of exercise, proper dieting, constant blood sugar examination, and other preventive measures that can be undertaken to keep prevalence levels to the lowest possible point. The role of oncology nurses is to “care for patients with chronic diseases, cancer, and diabetes, and educating and supporting patients with diabetes are critical,” (Leak, Davis & Houchin, 2008, p. 206). The nurses should be well versed with the recommended glucose level in the body and the overall care for a diabetic patient. Oncology nurses should be responsible for examining patients with high glucose levels, assess the factors that contribute to the condition, before taking a medical intervention.
Donald, Tilley & Havstad (1999) study reported that approximately 84% of nurses think that set of rules given when caring for patients has significant impact on their ability to make right decision in a real medical environment (cited in Leak et al., 2008). In addition, the nurses have the perception that updating educative measures on the impact of diabetes in the society is a way of improving the provision of self-care initiatives. This observation is fundamental, as nurses have to be weary of the latest methods of educating the population on diabetes in order to increase self-care programs. Oncology nurses should recognize their role as diabetes educators; hence, they need to develop best practices of improving the provision of diabetes education to patients and those who are not affected by the condition. One such method would be the use of computer-aided mode of learning, module presentation, further training for the nurses to champion the cause of diabetes.
For patient education to bear fruit, the nurses should be willing to offer individualized or personalized care to patients as this is the best way to let patients overcome fear and anxiety. Assessing patient’s greatest fears can be done through asking them the about their most worrying health concern should they be taken outside the hospital. Patients at time fear that hospital environment is the safest place where care is given. This notion should not hold as caregivers should be in a position to take the nurses’ responsibilities. According to Leak et al. (2008), “Components of diabetes education should be integrated into patient-nurse communication from the time of admission,” (p. 207). In this regard, the caregiver should be able to facilitate patient-nurse communication and by taking the role of the nurse at home.
Nursing care intervention for patient diagnosed with diabetes is built on the good interaction of the patient and the nurse (Meetoo, McAllister & West, 2011). Hence, it is the responsibility of the nurses to educate patient on why it is safe to change bad health. The bad health habits include over consumption of fast foods and lack of physical exercise. Instead, proper nutrition and exercise should be the routine at home. Discouraging poor diet requires caution as psychological researchers have found out that banning food items may instead encourage consumption. This is because banning only increases the crave for the banned items. This is referred to as the theory of reactance.
Save up to
25%!
We offer 10% more words per page than other websites, so actually you got 1 FREE page with every 10 ordered pages.
Together with 15% first order discount you get 25% OFF!
Consequently, the forbidden fruit theory argues that a by prohibiting a substance, human thought increases on the particular substance, which in turn increase the appeal (Brindal, Mohr & Wilson, 2008). Fast food consumption is growing across the globe due to the commitment of the modern male and woman. There is no time dedicated to preparation of nutritious meals at home. Instead, children and parent resort to easy way of preparing lunch or dinner. Fast food are rich in calories and fats and with lack of adequate exercise, the body stores the unutilized nutrients in the body. This process must be communicated to the patients in an open manner so that they do not fall victims of the forbidden fruit theory; but improve their food nutrition. The Diabetes Prevention Program, in the United States proposed the pre-diabetes management in a bid to change the American food culture.
Conclusion
This explanatory essay has quoted worrying statistics on diabetes in order to make the audience understand the need to tackle the health problem. With the inherent need to fight diabetes, the essay has analyzed various ways through which the nurses, the patients, and the community can contribute in fighting diabetes. Sensitization of the public and adoption of effective self-care programs would significantly manage the medical condition and reverse the ever-increasing statistics on diabetes. There is need for nurses and all stakeholders to promote education on the condition for a healthy nation.