Teaching Plan for Diabetes Management for Nurses - Essay Example

? Teaching Plan for Diabetes Management for Nurses Introduction The main purpose of patient education in thiscase is for people with diabetes to develop their knowledge, confidence, and skills thus enabling them to take rising control of their own condition and incorporate effective self-management into their daily life. A high a well-structured education plan or program can have a profound effect on the health outcomes and can significantly prove the quality of life (McGovern, Devlin, Lange, & Mann, 2002). Therefore, before one begins developing the teaching plan, they should be sure to describe the uniqueness of the clinical sites and the intended populations. Their teaching plan need proper customizations to this population and find ways that will help evaluate and monitor the program. Create a needs assessment survey Needs assessment survey briefly is a way of asking a group of a selected population what they see as the most important needs of that group. The analysis of the survey results are then used in guiding the future actions of the nurses. Generally, the needs most rated are therefore, addressed first depending on the available resources thus taking different forms. The resources will determine which type of survey to be carried out, such as informal methods for example, asking around in the community, friends, or postal carriers (Franz, 2001). Information is also retrieved from local hospitals where several people get their diagnosis, additionally it can also take the form of a professional-written survey, and then it is emailed to several people. Moreover, a need assessment survey have some common characteristics, for example, they have pre-set list of questions to be answered by the willing people, they also have a pre-determined sample of the number of participants to answer these questions. Finally, the results of the survey are then tabulated, summarized, dispersed, discussed, and then used (Funnell, Brown, Childs, Haas, Hosey, Jensen, & Weiss, 2009). In this case, the need assessment survey will be done on a small town population where the purpose will be to develop a program for the diabetic population in the effort to educate them on self-management. Therefore, the objective of the survey is getting to know the needs of diabetic patients also how the nurses can help them cope with their changing lifestyle. The first thought of this project is what the nurses can do to evaluate the needs of the targeted group and implement them appropriately in the proposed program. The first step will be compiling a list of relevant questions and relevant topics that would be useful in the assessment. This will ensure that the targeted group provided the required information in the assessment (Funnell, Brown, Childs, Haas, Hosey, Jensen, & Weiss, 2009). The other step is developing, for example, a questioner that will be provided to the targeted group and then distributed to the citizens of the town. Included with the assessment is an information page about the survey also a page for the residents of the town to fill if they were interested in the next part of the program. After the responses from the residents, an analysis of the results will be done to display the resident’s view. This will help learn how the program will be funded financially, how it will be managed in terms of administrators, and how the participants will be selected. This need assessment survey will help the nurses in various ways. First, the analyzed answers will provide quantitative facts about how people with diabetes feel; also, it will help the nurses develop teaching plans for their patients (Funnell, Brown, Childs, Haas, Hosey, Jensen, & Weiss, 2009). Evaluate needs assessment to define areas of focus Need evaluation is a commonly used in program planning, where it helps determine which program aspects or activities are the mostly needed and for the specific population. Most importantly, this method is used to help build up new programs or else justifying the existing program components. Normally, need evaluation is a systematic program planning tools that in this case would help the nurses; clarify objectives, identify the patient’s needs, set priorities, plan changes, identify the strengths and weaknesses, and allocate resources if available (Franz, 2001). In this case, therefore, nurses should understand that Diabetic patients have very inclusive learning needs. The patient’s needs mostly focuses on having the understanding of how to manage their sugar levels and alleviate diabetes complications. However, diabetic management learning needs are complex and mainly include; exercise medications, monitoring of their blood glucose levels, skin care, food planning mostly checking on what they take, the management of the parallel disease processes, knowledge of the disease progressions, and knowledge of their medication (Rickheim, Weaver, Flader, & Kendall, 2002). There is an increasing rate of people all over the world diagnosed with diabetes each year and several are always unaware that the condition requires a total lifestyle change, particularly in the areas of meal plans and physical activities that maintain their body fitness. Generally, making these total lifestyle changes is one of the most challenging and hardship that one will stumble upon in managing diabetes. However, the main objective and goal of a teaching for the nurses is to provide them with the ideas of how to give essential knowledge to the patients, to enable them make independent behavioral changes thus improving their overall health and their skills in managing their diabetic conditions in a safe and healthy manner. The main question addressed by the need-evaluation include: what services should the program make available, what are the suitable program objectives, how should the program be organized, what are the needs being addressed by the program, and lastly what is the most effective and efficient way to provide services (Rickheim, Weaver, Flader, & Kendall, 2002). Develop an educational program for diabetes according to ADA The American Diabetes Association is a United States founded association that work to fight the consequences of diabetes and assist or support those affected by diabetes. ADA commonly funds research to manage, cure, or prevent diabetes, deliver services to several needy communities, providing information and educating patients and healthcare professionals, and finally acting as advocates for those people denied their rights because of diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2003). There are four main principles developed by ADA to, evaluate the programs provided by different groups in support of people with diabetes. The first principle is the program need to be based on scientific evidence, which include clinical, demonstration, and epidemiologic studies. Secondly, an effective program should involve various organizations that will operate in partnership to, achieve program objectives and goals. Thirdly, the professional, public, and patient’s education must use effective and understandable communication strategies in reaching the selected target audiences, for example, public campaigns. The last principle is that evaluation should be an essential part of the program planning and execution and should be used as a frequent process of re-planning and refining program activities (American Diabetes Association, 2003). The program that will be developed in this section will entail the self-management education program, where patients with diabetes will be educated on the techniques that will help them deal with the disease. The program will entail a series of five appointments for the patients, scheduled approximately every two weeks. In this case, in the first week of the patient’s appointment, a diabetes nurse educator and a dietician will perform an initial assessment that will enable them develop a teaching plan designed specifically for the requirements of the patients. The patients will also receive essential and fundamental education on their blood sugar testing and that basic diet guidelines that will help them cope with the disease. Over the program, that is throughout the course the program, administrators will work with the patients, the families, and their personal physician to make sure they will be of help to the patient in successfully managing diabetic symptoms and live a healthy and normal life. For the duration of the education program, patients with diabetes will learn several and a variety of self-care proficiency. Patients will know how to monitor the level of blood sugar in the blood, treatment options, ability to identify symptoms of low and high blood sugar, healthy eating, management of diabetic symptoms for pregnant women, and methods of changing personal behavior to alleviate health risks. Methods of evaluating a teaching plan A teaching plan is intended at assisting the patients in making educated lifestyle preferences and changes that will encourage health and encourage a constant blood sugar. Each patient requires a comprehensive treatment approach, such as education related to diabetes and nutrition therapy, an individualized meal plan that will be appropriate to his or her lifestyle, and mutually agreed long and short-term objectives for lifestyle changes. A teaching plan should stress on the significance of complying with the prearranged treatment program. In addition, a teaching plan calls for a modification according to the patient’s needs, developmental stages, and abilities. The teaching plan should include administration, diet, possible unfavorable effects of medication, hygiene, and blood glucose monitoring (Duncan, 2008). The purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether the program is useful to the diabetes patients. Evaluation of the teaching plan needs pre-planning and carrying out throughout the education process to customize on the section that needs it. In several programs, evaluation takes place at an interval of three to six months in which objectivity and performance will be enhanced by setting goals and objectives that are measurable, specific and timed also people-centered. One of the methods that can be used in evaluating the teaching plan is carrying out the evaluation individually by looking at people’s lifestyle changes or health status; all forms of evaluation will offer an assessment of people’s additional educational needs (Duncan, 2008). There are other commonly used measures or methods of evaluating education, for example, biomedical indicators such as blood glucose, weight, blood pressure, and lipids. The other method is psychological indicators such as the quality of life, well-being, sell-efficacy, social support, satisfaction, and mental health of the patients. Self-management behavior is another common method that can be used in evaluating the teaching plan or education being provided to patients. In this case, evaluation can use several tools, for example, written materials (questioners), oral materials (interviews), audiovisual materials (video recordings and audio tapes), and observational methods (Duncan, 2008). A teaching Plan for diabetes Case scenario In this case, of the self-management program, our teaching plan will include a two-week program that will consist of a two or three sessions of group discussions and education. In the first week, there will be education activities and in the second week, there will evaluation and discussion of how one can manage they lifestyle on their own. The topics and discussions will be as follows. In day one, there will be a general overview of diabetes, its main components, second day the topic will be on blood glucose monitoring, and objectives of blood glucose monitoring, and day three will cover medication and insulin monitoring. Day four will comprise of complications from diabetes, skin and foot care, and physical activities examples; day five will cover the relationship between diabetes and meal plan, and the tactics of coping with diabetes; day six will cover questions and answer and a review on any concepts that will be requested by the patients. This process will repeat in the second week and cover thoroughly on those topics and an evaluation thereafter. Surveys for evaluation of effectiveness of program An ongoing program evaluation is important for self-management support programs for the diabetic patients. The programs administrators will want to receive information routinely that will allow them assess the program's operation and their performance, especially if it helps and benefits the people with diabetes. The choice of which method of the survey to use in evaluating the effectiveness of the will depend on the number of participants and the range or duration of the program. The program success may be assessed at several points along the chain of effects, in this case during the survey, one can examine whether a patient’s awareness and self-efficacy have increased, whether the patient’s health-related behaviors have changed, whether the patients’ needs has been fulfilled, and whether patients satisfaction has improved (Issel, 2004). Additionally, most people will commonly look for authorization of a program as a measure of the program’s structural soundness. A surveyor will want to monitor if the program has the components and the features highlighted in the original plan. On the other hand, other people will also question whether the features are reasonably capable of sustaining the kinds and the level of self-management programs. Several structural measures of the program will rely on information from the program’s management. The other data source of the program assessment is the patient self-report. In this case, the patient is given a questioner to fill and provide feedback on the nature of the program (Issel, 2004). Patient self-report can also be got through interview where the patient is asked several question through an interview it can be other be video recorded or audio taped, this will help have a record on the improvement of the patients, and how the program can be improved to fulfill the requirements of the patients. The other approach of evaluating the effectiveness of the program is monitoring the performance of the program staff by examining the level to which they execute their tasks and the activities planned in the program, for example, how well the process of providing the needed support to diabetic patients actually works. Moreover, the program process does not only make critical measures for the program management and supervision, they can also tell the administrators if the program implementation is according to the original plan (Issel, 2004). References American Diabetes Association. (2003). American Diabetes Association complete guide to diabetes. Bantam. Duncan, I. G. (2008). Managing and Evaluating Healthcare Intervention Programs. Actex Publications. Franz, M. (Ed.) (2001). Diabetes Management Therapies: A Core Curriculum for Diabetes Education. 4th Edition. Chicago, IL: American Association of Diabetes Educators. Funnell, M. M., Brown, T. L., Childs, B. P., Haas, L. B., Hosey, G. M., Jensen, B., ... & Weiss, M. A. (2009). National standards for diabetes self-management education. Diabetes care, 32(Supplement 1), S87-S94. Issel, M. (2004). Health program planning and evaluation: A practical, systematic approach for community health. Jones & Bartlett Learning. McGovern, K., Devlin, M., Lange, E., and Mann, N. (Eds.) (2002). Disease Management for Nurse Practitioners. Springhouse, PA: Springhouse Corporation. Rickheim, P. L., Weaver, T. W., Flader, J. L., & Kendall, D. M. (2002). Assessment of Group Versus Individual Diabetes Education A randomized study. Diabetes care, 25(2), 269-274. Read More