Impact of Diabeteson nursing practice
Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the bod’s ability to regulate sugar levels in the blood. The U.S Burden of Disease Collaborators (2018) has identified the illness as one of the top clinical problems in the country. Consequently, the situation creates the need for an increase in the amount of resources needed to tackle the condition. Such a step would have a positive impact on improving population health parameters. In this exercise, evaluation of its impact on practitioners and the broader healthcare eco-system will occur. Further, an examination of the presence of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) will take place.
The disease has a notable impact on nursing practice. According to Nikitara et al. (2019), diabetes affects the cognitive, social, and physical health of an individual. Therefore, the authors assert that nurses must adopt roles, over and above their traditional ones. Substantially, it increases the demands for nursing practice since they now must provide wholesome care to the patients. Nikitara et al. (2019) add that nurses should embrace their new roles as educators and counsellors if they are to improve the welfare of diabetic patients. The rationale for this view is that patient education has been shown to improve the outcomes of these patients, considering that it is a lifestyle disease.
Other components of the healthcare sector also face a challenge from the growing prevalence of diabetes. The ailment is putting a strain on the existing healthcare facilities. This situation increases patients loads, especially considering that a structural shortage in human resources exists in the sector. Moreover, the illness tends to be comorbid with other conditions like obesity and cardiovascular disease. Consequently, this situation raises the demands of healthcare providers during the process of providing care to their patients.
It may also harm other stakeholders’ ability to perform their functions regarding improving care effectively. For instance, given the increasing costs of providing care to the affected patients, healthcare insurers may be forced to increase their premiums. This outcome may lead to an increase in the segment of the population that do not have access to health insurance services or the full range of coverage because of affordability difficulties (Jackson et al., 2016). The combination of these aspects may affect the quality of care available.
The growing prevalence of the disease has raised the need to adopt a multisectoral approach in its care and management. Accordingly, some of the stakeholders at the national level include the healthcare providers, the public, as well as state and federal legislatures. National associations on the disease like the American Diabetes Association (ADA) are also vital stakeholders.
CPGs are critical for the management of any disease. In the U.S, such guidelines exist. Some of the national organizations that have established guidelines include the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and ADA. The frameworks are concerned with means of maximizing the diabetic patients’ outcomes. For instance, the ADA (2019) provides instructions on how to use Dapagliflozin for patients whose diabetes is comorbid with cardiovascular ailments. Additionally, the organization has outlined a clinical algorithm that practitioners should employ when treating such patients.
Conclusively, diabetes is a significant public health issue. Therefore, stakeholders need to develop to adopt a team-based approach. This step would guarantee that the interventions taken are not only robust but also systematic. Further, the nursing profession needs to improve its competence, especially as it concerns adapting the educator and counsellor roles. These strategies would help improve the management of diabetes.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2019). Professional Practice Committee: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2020. Diabetes Care, 43(Supplement 1), S3–S3. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc20-sppc
Jackson, Y., Lozano Becerra, J. C., & Carpentier, M. (2016). Quality of diabetes care and health insurance coverage: a retrospective study in an outpatient academic public hospital in Switzerland. BMC Health Services Research, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1801-z
Nikitara, M., Constantinou, C. S., Andreou, E., & Diomidous, M. (2019). The Role of Nurses and the Facilitators and Barriers in Diabetes Care: A Mixed Methods Systematic Literature Review. Behavioral Sciences, 9(6), 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9060061
The U.S. Burden of Disease Collaborators. (2018). The state of U.S. health, 1990–2016 burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors among U.S. states. JAMA, 319(14), 1444–1472. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.0158