Education about Diabetes Type II - Assignment Example

? Diabetes type II Introduction My patient was a 52 year old Spanish female with the initials M.E. She had come to me for assistance on how to keep a balance diet and portion control. She was complaining of Chest pain caused by Diabetes type II. As a bilingual person I was able to do some teaching on diabetes and diet (portion control) with diabetes. I began by preparing a teaching plan about diabetes type II. I felt that education about diabetes type II was important for her current and future health. Patient education Diabetes type II is a metabolic disorder that is associated with high blood glucose and lack of insulin or simply insulin deficiency in blood (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). When it comes to management of diabetes type II, control of blood sugar is usually the central subject matter. After all, when ones level of blood sugar is kept within the target range, it can help him or her to live a healthy life. The main aim of patient education was for M.E. to improve her knowledge, skills and self-assurance, enabling her to take enhanced control of her own condition as well as incorporate effective self-management aspects into her daily lives (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). This is premised on the fact that high-quality patient education can actually have a profound impact on health outcomes of patients and can drastically enhance quality of life. In particular, this patient education aimed at teaching M.E. on how to keep a balance diet and portion control in away that will help her manage her condition-Diabetes type II. In this context, my main goal was to promote the health of M.E. and to avert any further outcome associated with the disease. The information that M.E. will receive, will be of great importance in terms of enabling her to make changes in her feeding lifestyle and this will help in controlling her blood glucose within normal or target range. All other aspects associated with her conditions such as, if she had ever confided her condition into anyone, and if anyone has ever told her anything regarding her condition, were revisited before I brought about the topics to be discussed. She openly stated that she had shared a lot with her primary care doctor. In this case nonetheless, I assured her that my aim was simply to provide information that would her manage her condition well in terms of how to keep a balance diet and portion control. My primary teaching material in this case was a handout entailing illustrations and information about diabetes type II disease and the choice was based on the fact that illustrations serves to reinforce the point that has been taught and are easier to understand even for people who are not familiar with it. The first topic to be introduced was what diabetes was and its likely effects on ones body. I began by explaining to her that Diabetes Type II was a condition resulting from the failure of insulin to control to a minimum the level of glucose in blood (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). As a result, there is no absorption of glucose to be used by the body cells for the production of energy. Under the causes, I explained to her that the disease is caused by a mixture of genetic and lifestyle factors. Whilst some factors such as diet are under personal control or management, others, such as female gender, genetics and increasing age, are not. This, therefore, led into a discussion on the dangers associated with the disease: the danger of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and ischemic heart disease which are similarly life threatening. The next topic we discussed was what factors lead to Diabetes Type II, such as her Hispanic ethnicity, her old age, lack of physical activity, poor diet and family history of diabetes. Having informed her about all these, I then discussed with her about the things she could do in her daily life to manage her level of blood glucose. Specifically, I advised her to avoid diets that have high content of sugar. However, I emphasized that in as much as healthy eating is a foundation of any diabetes management approach; it is not just what she eats impacts her level of blood sugar, but also how much she eats and when she eats that meal. I also emphasized on the importance of physical activity. At this point, I told her that exercises would improve the response of her body to insulin thereby enhancing blood glucose absorption. Exercising also would increase the function of her muscles in terms of using absorbed blood glucose for energy. Thus, I told her that these factors would essentially work together to lower her blood glucose level. I also stressed the importance of taking her medications as prescribed by her primary doctor. In terms of the domain of learning, I used the cognitive domain based on the fact that it is learner centered and encourages active participation when discussing important issues that call for immediate responses from both sides. Specifically, I chose this learning domain as it would easier to build a setting where I could be at ease to present information and also the one that makes her feel relaxed to participate in the discussion regarding management of Diabetes Type II. This is based on the reason that being a very serious condition, it needs to be understood properly for effective management (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Cognitive learning involves gaining of problem-solving abilities and both with conscious and intelligence thought. In fact, a cognitive learning theory defines learning as a change of behavior based on the gaining or acquisition of information regarding the environment (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). Nursing Process When undertaking patient education, I recognized and assessed a number of factors which showed that M.E. needed education and was specifically eager to learn about her condition associated with Diabetes Type II and therefore, I wanted to teach her about how she could manage her condition by controlling her feeding habits, physical activity and observance of prescribed instructions regarding her medication. From the very first time she approached me for help, she had the intention to learn about issues ailing her. During the education process, she was highly motivated and this could be seen from the way she participated by asking questions and also responding to questions. In other words, she was highly cooperative. There were a number of factors that influenced her learning although she mostly wanted to learn about her condition and nothing else. Also, I selected a serene environment where only both of us were present and coupled with the assurance of privacy; she became free and showed a lot of willingness to participate in the discussion. There were no cultural issues that affected learning. This is because she only spoke Spanish and I had an added advantage of bilingualism. Self-efficacy is the ability to independently provide for oneself or simply, having undue confidence or taking personal initiative (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). When assessing her I found out a number of self-efficacy aspects such as unwavering personal initiative and undue confidence. I assessed this by looking at her interest in the learning process, the desire to make a change in her life towards promoting and maintaining her health and state of participation which was active. The patient has a strong spirit towards the learning process, this made me to conclude that she knew she would successfully learn and follow through the process without any difficult. After interpreting data, I recognized that appropriate nursing diagnosis had been done. Therefore, because every in terms of diagnosis had been done, I decided that her current medical diagnosis would be appropriate with enhanced knowledge related to Diabetes Type II. M.E already had some information regarding her condition from her primary care doctor, and mine was just to reiterate and perhaps emphasize its significance. My patient education goal was to explain to M.E on how to keep a balance diet and portion control. My outcomes in this case were that after applying the information taught her blood glucose level would come down thereby significantly reducing diabetes effects within the shortest time possible. As such, her visits to the hospital would also reduce drastically. With the understanding that my patient was going through a rough time, I decided on creating an environment that could make her relaxed and was free from interference (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). The room was lit dimly lit and any other noise turning low. In addition, the door was shut and curtains released to be free from external interference. Furthermore, I used the aspect of empathy. During this process, I told her that I have family members who have also successfully gone through the stage she was at. This boosted her morale and increased her motivation in the process. Also, throughout the teaching process, I allowed her to take part and express how she was feeling, her fears and her hopes. With this, I recognized that her feeling was associated with the strong spirit to take over the control of her own life. I also used a hand out bearing illustrations about Diabetes type II disease an aspect that increased her eagerness to know more about her condition and the best way forward. Throughout the teaching process, the expected outcomes were that M.E would understand all issues regarding her condition and that she would implement everything she was told. Lastly, after implementing everything she was told, all diabetes associated effects would reduce drastically. All these things were achieved in the process. First, from the few questions I asked her she answered all of them correctly. Secondly, she agreed to observe and managed her lifestyle based on the acquired information. It is without denial that the nursing interventions helped a lot in achieving the expected outcomes. For instance, the handout reinforced her understanding by providing additional information in diagrammatic form. The choice of environment which was free from interferences significantly contributed to the realization of the expected outcomes. The main reason why the nursing interventions contributed to the realization of the expected out is that they were wholistic, learner centered and interactive in nature (Ackley & Ladwig, 2013). References Ackley, B., & Ladwig, G. (2013). Nursing diagnosis handbook: an evidence-based guide to planning care. Maryland Heights: Mosby Elsevier. Ignatavicius, D., & Workman, M. (2013). Medical-surgical nursing: patient-centered collaborative care. St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders. Read More