Disease Process of Diabetes Mellitus - Admission/Application Essay Example

? Diabetes Mellitus Introduction: Diabetes mellitus represents a condition of the living health where the body becomes unableto process food and hence fails to use it as the body’s source of energy. In a normal living being, the food that the body intakes turn into glucose which is transferred to the necessary parts of the body with the help of a hormone named insulin. However when a patient suffers from diabetes, the body does not produce sufficient insulin and hence the sugar gets stored in the blood increasing their levels. Severe health complications are likely owing to high levels of sugar in the blood, or the incidence of diabetes (Diabetes, n.d., p.1). 2. Disease Process: Patient considered for study, Patient A with diabetic foot problems caused due to diabetes mellitus. Socio-economic Profile of Patient A: The age of the patient (male) is 44 years with income level being low at less than $2000 as his monthly income. His education is up to secondary level. He has been serving a small government company for the past 15 years. He belonged to such a culture where there was significant lack of activity or exercise, lesser mixing up with people and he spends his time mostly at work or at home. He is a Chinese by birth but living in the United States, and tends to ignore discussion of symptoms. As a result, the disease causing foot problems has been severe in this patient. As can be understood from the above information, the socio-economic factors are significant in determining the access of the patient to the healthcare services for the treatment that he requires. Firstly, he is reluctant to discuss his symptoms hence it would naturally be delayed to determine the causes and nature of his disease and make an early treatment on him. Secondly, owing to his poor level of education and income, it is not possible for him to obtain healthcare services or treatment from a well established healthcare organization that would prove to be expensive for his family (How culture influences health beliefs, n.d.; Nather et al, 2010, pp.1-6). Thus it can be said that owing to the socioeconomic status of the patient, his access to healthcare systems gets affected significantly. It is possible for a patient affected with diabetes mellitus to follow a self-care medication and control in order to try to have control over the disease such that the effects can be reduced. It is possible for the patient to have self knowledge of the disease to understand its symptoms, treatment, and prognosis, and hence follow a modified diet and exercise process to help reduce the symptoms and effects of the disease. For example, there is a collaborative process named Diabetes Self Management Education and Training (DSME/T) that allows individuals suffering from diabetes or those at risk of developing the disease, to have knowledge about the symptoms and treatment of the disease along with developing a modified lifestyle and behavior, particularly focusing on a proper diet and increased level of activity or exercise, to manage the effects of the disease (American Association of Diabetes Educators, 2009, p.9). However, in case of the patient being considered for this study, it is a problem as the culture to which he belongs, reflects upon lack of exercises and activities as they are reluctant of the disease and its symptoms. In such cases it would become difficult for the patient to undergo self care practices. Access to healthcare services is dependent on factors such as accessibility, association, financing, utilization, and contentment. While there are several healthcare organizations providing for treatment of the disease, a major issue is the financing of the treatment, which in this case of the patient, can be understood to be difficult to obtain with ease. However there are facilities of health insurances where patients may have to pay certain amount on a term basis to get him insured for treatment. Hence if the patient is insured, the cost of the treatment could be covered by the insurance company (Zhang et al, 2008, pp.1748-1753). However in case of Patient A, no such insurance coverage is available and hence treatment would mean paying from his own pocket which may not be easy for him to afford, and hence the disease may remain undiagnosed and untreated for long. 3. Healthcare Profession: The selected healthcare professional who has been selected for this study is Professional B, who is associated with the Abbott Diabetes Care in the United States. He has a 4 years completed BS Degree, followed by 4 years completed schooling in an US medical school thereby having the MD Degree or Doctor of Medicine. He has been trained through a residency program that continued for 4 years under the supervision of senior level physicians. Also, he has undergone additional training and gained fellowship in medicine as well. There is a significant difference between those who choose to be doctors and those who choose to be diabetes care specialists. As has been established by the National Certification Board of Diabetes Educators (NCBDE), diabetes care specialists who are also referred to as diabetes educators, need to qualify on the basis of the educational requirements in this particular profession before they can obtain the certification of becoming a diabetes specialist. Advanced degrees in medicine are essential to serve as diabetes care specialists that include nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacology, nutrition and social work. It is also essential for the practitioners to work in association with diabetes patients for a minimum of 2 years time. Before the professionals can take the required examination, they would be required to complete a classroom course period of minimum 15 hours time (Diabetes Care Specialist Education Requirements and Job Description, 2013). Senior healthcare professionals are there above the mentioned healthcare professional serving people together. Peers of the professional include both his colleagues and subordinate that work within the organization together to serve the diabetes patients. The professionals at Abbott work together towards innovation and provide care to diabetes patients also by providing them with the required knowledge on diabetes, its symptoms, and treatment, such that the patients can also indulge in self care practices (About Us, 2013). Physician referral management is followed at the organization to manage the referral patterns for the healthcare professionals effectively. The activities of the different physicians are tracked and monitored and hence referrals of the professionals are performed to enhance their performance as well as the performance of the organization towards benefiting services to the diabetes patients. 4. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the study that diabetes mellitus is a disease that on one hand requires the healthcare professional to fulfill specialized requirements to serve effectively, and on the other hand for the patient to indulge in self care practices, with socio-economic factors being significant factors affecting the usual treatment facilities. References About Us (2013). Abbottdiabetescare. [Online]. Retrieved on 16 December 2013 from: https://www.abbottdiabetescare.com/about.html American Association of Diabetes Educators (2009). AADE Guidelines for the Practice of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Training (DSME/T). Diabeteseducator. [Online]. Retrieved on 17 December 2013 from: http://www.diabeteseducator.org/export/sites/aade/_resources/pdf/research/Guidelines_Final_2_1_11.pdf Diabetes (n.d.). CDC. [Online]. Retrieved on 16 December 2013 from: http://www.cdc.gov/media/presskits/aahd/diabetes.pdf Diabetes Care Specialist Education Requirements and Job Description (2013). Education-portal. [Online]. Retrieved on 17 December 2013 from: http://education-portal.com/articles/Diabetes_Care_Specialist_Education_Requirements_and_Job_Description.html How culture influences health beliefs (n.d.). Euromedinfo. [Online]. Retrieved on 16 December 2013 from: http://www.euromedinfo.eu/how-culture-influences-health-beliefs.html/ Nather, A. (2010). Socioeconomic profile of diabetic patients with and without foot problems. Diabetic Foot & Ankle, 1.5533, 1-6. Zhang, X. et al (2008). The Missed Patient With Diabetes. Diabetes Care, 31.9, 1748-1753. Read More