Easy Immune System Health - Term Paper Example

Reflection on Transition Activities: Diabetes Management Introduction Nursing, as a profession, has seen tremendous changes in theoretical orientation and practical application in contemporary times. In specific health institutions all over the world, healthcare starts with the nurses. Due to the challenging roles and diversely wide opportunities available for nurses, the academic framework needed to hone the skills of future nurses must be comprehensive and holistic in nature to ensure that all major aspects of patient care are appropriately addressed. In my second year of academic studies, transition activities comprise of delving into a group education program on diabetes management at the Lakeside Medical Center. The program aims to improve lifestyle of diabetic patients and learn the various perspectives on the management of diabetes more effectively. In this regard, the essay aims to proffer my personal reflection on the specific transition activity focusing on diabetic management. In the process, an examination of the learning modules would provide ample information on areas where evidence contradicts reality. As such, the discourse would reveal how the transition activities have contributed towards the honing of personal and professional skills. An assessment of these skills through the transition activity would enable me to gauge specific areas which need to be improved and enhanced. Finally, the reflection would reveal specific scenarios to support the contentions in the essay. Learning Objectives The diabetes management program at Lakeside Medical Center clearly outlined the following learning objectives, to wit: classification of Diabetes Mellitus, Insulin Therapy, Management of Newly Diagnosed, and the Science of Nutrition, among others. I attended four (4) sessions specifically detailed as follows: The first session was learning about “What is Diabetes (exploring diabetes, lifestyle, etc.). The second session focused on carbohydrates (CARB) awareness including the amount and types of carbohydrates. The third session detailed reading and understanding food labels. Finally, the fourth session discussed possible short term and long term complications of diabetes and understanding medication and health profile. From the modules, I learned that nursing care for diabetes encompasses a combination of glucose monitoring, specialized diet, regular exercise and proper medications. Since diabetes is considered a chronic illness, patients diagnosed with the disease must be made aware that the responsibility and accountability of daily management of one’s illness is the patient himself. The role of the nurses in diabetic management comes in the form of education, screening and following-up patients’ needs and appropriate care for diabetes. Accordingly, as emphasized in the modules, the goals of nursing management are to reduce hyperglycemia and prevent or delay the onset of acute and long-term complications of the disease. The second and third session focused on diet and food awareness, specifically of carbohydrates, on the nutritional aspect of diabetic management. The value of nutritional therapy to diabetic patients is critical and a necessary prerequisite for diabetic management. According to the program, nutritional therapy is based on a well-balanced diet and is one of the mainstays in the treatment of diabetes. Furthermore, it was emphasized that due to the variety of factors that influence a person’s eating habits, this aspect could be one of the most difficult areas that need to be controlled. Most of the time, other health care practitioners need to assist and provide comprehensive information for the patient regarding nutritional content of specific food items and the exact and allowable amounts of food that can be taken to ensure that the level of blood sugar is not compromised. Usually, depending on the type of diabetes (type 1 or type 2), a meal plan must be prepared and advised by a dietician and reinforced by the nurse. The appropriate information on general dietary guidelines for patients with diabetes includes the identification of the percentage calories to come from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Session two emphasized that carbohydrates have the greatest effect on blood sugar because of their rapid absorption and conversion to glucose. In addition, the need to closely study food labels must be a natural habit for relatives and patients with diabetes to ensure that the nutrients and calories taken by the body conform to the needed daily requirements without increasing the blood sugar of the patient. Evaluation and outcome With the activities that I actively participated into, I am aware that I have gained more perspectives in diabetes management. The group education program at Lakeside Medical Center is very important in recognizing the diverse roles that each health care practitioners play in the management of diabetes to diagnosed patients. Each specific role is necessary to diagnose the accurate epidemiology of the illness and each practitioner’s input is a link towards the promotion of improved health. My previous transition activities have also helped in understanding the concept of pain, for example, in cases when diabetic patients have complications including foot ulcers or vascular dysfunction. The transition activity on diabetic management provided me with a clear and higher perspective on the topics of overview of the disease, nutritional therapy, and complications. The theoretical framework and concepts prove to be beneficial and advantageous in practical applications in the hospital setting. The transition activity is instrumental in determining the kind of nursing diagnosis needed for specific types of patients with diabetes. Due to the chronic nature of the illness, and the different types of diabetes and the medical interventions available, the kind of diagnosis will likely change as the patient learns to manage one’s chronic illness as unique complications arise. Based on the transition activity, I gained insights on the possible kinds of nursing diagnoses which may include risks for infection, deficient knowledge regarding management, treatment, and individual care needs, risk for impaired adjustment, imbalanced nutrition less than body requirements, and risk for disturbed sensory perception, among others. More importantly, proper diabetic management aims to preclude acute complications of the disease, which could include any of the following: diabetic ketoacidosis, hypoglycemia, vessel disease, diabetic retinopathy and foot ulcers, among others. The transition activity honed my analytic skills and diagnostic skills on diabetic management and nutritional therapy, among others. I learned to focus on the critical elements of nursing care for diabetic patients: glucose monitoring (if required), specialized diet, regular exercise and proper medications. I was made aware of the value of regular exercise for diabetic patients since it has the ability to lower blood sugar and to decrease cardiovascular risk factors. By identifying risk factors, complications could be prevented. As I have learned from the activity, the most common cause of hospitalization for the diabetic patient is the complication of the lower extremities, specifically, the foot. In this regard, sharing the information and showing the proper care for the foot could be shared to the patients to ensure that this complication could be prevented. The Role of the Autonomous Nurse Diabetic management is a challenging endeavor for nurses to focus on delivery of the required patient care. The transition activity made me realize that the general responsibilities expected of nursing in providing patient care still remains: (1) undertake a patient assessment; (2) formulate nursing diagnoses; (3) identify expected patient outcomes; (4) plan nursing care appropriate to patients’ expectations and cultural context; (5) intervene to address the patient’s nursing diagnosis and (6) evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of the plan of care. Patients with chronic illness such as arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, among others, have actual and potential learning needs. Chronic disorders can impair mobility and therefore interfere with learning psychomotor skills as a result of decreased flexibility and dexterity of the fingers. Other chronic illnesses such as diabetes require continuing education and monitoring of their health situation and their ability to take care of themselves. Diabetes required regular monitoring of levels of blood sugar which is affected by the nature of the patient’s diet and physical activity. Support and education are two nursing interventions needed by patients with chronic illnesses, particularly diabetes. Accordingly, there should be goals for caring for people with diabetes. These goals should include the following: (1) coping with lifestyle changes and the subsequent modification of self-care activities; (2) coping with long-term discomfort or pain; (3) establishing or maintaining a sense of personal control; and (4) maintaining a positive self-esteem. By these discourse, the main focus for nurses is to instill and develop coping mechanism for patients with diabetes. Nurses should emphasize the need to enforce to the patients the things which can be done and not to focus on the illness itself. There are two methods of prevention for chronic illness: primary and secondary. The primary prevention for diabetes is by educating people about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to prevent the disease from occurring. Those afflicted with any chronic illness can see the same nurse for repeat visits where they can be provided with a special card or sticker to ensure continuity of primary health care. The main obligation of the health care practitioner in this level of care is to make the patients aware of the risk factors of the disease. The following methods can also be implemented as primary prevention methods: arrangements are made by the clinic to minimize patient travel (especially by the elderly) by prescribing supplies of drugs to last one to three months. Staff often facilitates the initiation of clubs and special support groups for people with chronic diseases. In this way a patient can get more information on special care and health education pertaining to their condition. Secondary prevention measures need reducing the risk of aggravating diabetes, especially leading to complications, by focusing on the patients who have been detected of having these illnesses. Further, the health care practitioner should encourage periodic health examinations and frequent medical updates on relevant issues surrounding diabetes, its management and treatment. Skills Developed The transition activity paved the way for the development of the following skills: interpersonal, negotiation, analytic, diagnostic, customer relation, and communication skills. By gaining more knowledge on the subject of diabetic management, including areas of treatment and prevention of complications, I developed analytical and diagnostic skills on the subject. I learned that I need to focus on an assessment of the patient in terms of identifying one’s lifestyle and diet and learn to share relevant information to assist and guide the patient to positive change. The program, likewise, enhanced my communication skills as I learned to interact with people and various health care practitioners during the course of attending the various sessions. As the nurse progress in her expertise, her leadership and management skills are developed. However, since most of the modules were approached using the lecture style, more activities and exposure to actual patient care and experience in the hospital setting is needed to reinforce the theoretical concepts and provide the needed link to practical applications. Theoretical Concepts Countered in Real Situations If one has been diagnosed with diabetes, there has been some advice to watch one’s diet. That does not mean that one will have to see all your favorite food walk out of one’s life. Diabetes is a condition where the body is not able to produce or use insulin properly and this leads to further serious health risks. Carbohydrates like sugar and starches have to be converted into energy for daily activities and insulin is the hormone which does that. In fact, there are several dietary guidelines in diabetes like eat different kinds of nutritious food, eat less fat and protein as well as carb counting. Carb counting is an important factor in managing diabetes and it is worth learning more about it. To understand carb counting and use it effectively, one will have to know what carbs are, how to count carbs as well as how many carbs are required by the body. Many individuals with diabetes take help of carb counting to balance insulin and food. If one eats more carbs the blood glucose level will go up, which will need more insulin to manage the sugar in the cells. In the system of carb counting, for managing diabetes better, one will have to add up all the carbohydrates in the food that one wants to eat. A lot of time has to be given to keep track of carbs all through the day. For carb counting, one has to know the amount of carbs present in various kinds of food. The transition activity’s session two which focused on carbohydrates emphasized the truths about carbohydrates and which should be avoided. In reality, carbohydrates must not be avoided completely as it is a required necessity to give the body enough energy. Avoiding it would provide an imbalance in the nutritional content needed for effective daily functioning of the body. Limitations The only evident limitation of the program on diabetic management was direct patient care experience to link theories to practical applications. The value of theories must be appreciated by seeing actual patients diagnosed with diabetes of all types and observe for oneself the distinctive similarities or differences to provide first hand experience on patient care and management. It has been emphasized that most of the management and care of patients with diabetes is done by the family members and by the patients themselves at home. In this regard, the diabetic management program should likewise emphasize allowing the patient to maintain or maximize the optimal level of self-care. The problem is that this is frequently not achieved due to the complications that ensue from mismanagement of the illness. The nurses’ role, in this case, is to provide ample information and access to effective management and treatment with correct patient assessment of the extent of the illness and the level of support from the patient’s family. Future diabetic management programs must include sessions for patient interaction, communication and assessment to increase the nurses’ experience and exposure to appropriate diagnostic procedures and the delivery of patient care. Likewise, nutritional therapy, which is usually is primary responsibility of dieticians must include active participation of nurses to learn the critical aspects of the concept so patients could be appropriately advised in the absence of dieticians. Family members must likewise be included in some of the modules to provide feedback and information which might not be divulged by the patients (due to complications or other factors influenced by the disease). Conclusion Chronic illness, like diabetes, causes a disruption in normal functional abilities of an individual. The onset of these illnesses may cause irreversible lifelong changes. In this regard, health care practitioners should never focus on the disease; but rather on the coping mechanisms that would enable the afflicted person to function appropriately despite the illness. The transition activity on diabetes management provided various opportunities for both personal and professional development in terms of self-assessment of skills and increase in learnings on theoretical perspectives of the illness. As such, I realized that the focus should be in developing a positive outlook in life. As emphasized by Edelman and Mandel (2002), the goal is to establish that the patient can practice personal control. It is not the disease that should control them – but it should be the other way around. Further, by maintaining a positive self-esteem, the individual would be able to overcome whatever obstacles one might be facing, as a consequence of the chronic illness. Claude Bernard postulated that “the internal environment of the body was what decided whether or not we remained healthy or became ill. An unhealthy body invited pathogens to grow, while they were unable to grow in a balanced and healthy environment” (Easy Immune System Health, 2008, par. 10). Transition activities are relevant in terms of providing health care practitioners with comprehensive theories needed to get a holistic view of the relevant topic – diabetic management, in this case. The program made me realize that the value of health can never be oversimplified. An individual’s personal health contain assessment and evaluation of several facets of ones well being. In the past century, there are vast advances in health issues and in medical breakthroughs than in any point in time one can imagine. The sad part remains that indeed, “the ability to provide care and compassion to every user remains a legitimate public expectation”. Every individual expects to be given appropriate health care. But unfortunately, health care and the delivery of health service are not available to every one. The soaring costs of medical intervention, professional fees, medicines, laboratory tests, and other health requirements are neither readily accessible nor available to the public. Only the rich can afford to avail of health care. These factors likewise affect diabetic management. Although public health institutions provide free medical consultations, almost always, the poor cannot afford to buy the medicine prescribed. Most of the time, the medical facilities of public health institutions are not complete to accommodate diabetic management and treatment and therefore not available to the public. Leadership and management should be about being able to put analysis into action. With the majority of the transition activities designed to increase the knowledge and awareness of health care practitioners in various fields of patient care, the implementation and application phase should be closely monitored to ensure their success. Action, after all, is the most important saving factor needed for the country’s health care system. Reference List Easy Immune System Health. (2008). The Real Dirt About Immune System Health What Doctors Don’t Tell You. [Online] Available at: http://www.easy-immune-health.com/Immune-System-Health.html> [Accessed 12 September 2010]. Edelman, C. & Mandel, C.L. (2002). Health promotion throughout the life span. (5th ed.) St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Read More