Diabetes represents a major health threat, which has been exacerbated by the increase in the number of adverse factors. With the levels of obesity rising rapidly, the threat of diabetes has increased, affecting not only adults but also children and adolescents. Therefore, immediate changes must be introduced to the current management of diabetes. By changing the policy toward the active nurse and patient education, one will be able to improve patient outcomes and the quality of patients’ lives.
Being an incurable disease, diabetes remains one of the major global health concerns. Specifically, diabetes impacts the quality of care by reducing the overall quality of life, causing patients to suffer increased stress, experience anxiety, and even develop depression (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Thus, the presence of diabetes may cause the emergence of anxiety- and stress-related mental health issues (Dhatariya et al., 2020). The described outcome directly affects the quality of care since it implies the necessity to manage not only the problem of diabetes but also the emergent mental health concerns, which reduces the speed of response and, therefore, the efficacy of care.
Similarly, diabetes type 2 represents a major threat to patient safety due to the increased risk of associated health concerns. Specifically, type 2 diabetes poses a threat of a patient developing hypo- or hyperglycemia, namely, an abnormally low or high level of blood sugar, both options representing an equally high threat to a patient’s well-being (Dhatariya et al., 2020). The resulting need to address several major health issues in patients instead of one will inevitably lead to multiple medical errors and the resulting drop in the quality of the treatment outcome (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Namely, having to focus on several health-related issues within the same time span implies that a nurse will receive an increased workload, which, in turn, will affect the extent of patient safety due to a rise in the number and range of health risks. Therefore, diabetes type 2 also has a noticeable effect on the extent of patient safety.
Finally, the development of diabetes type 2 also suggests that the range of costs both for the system and the patient will rise accordingly. Specifically, for the system, the emergence of the problem of diabetes suggests taking expenses in order to conduct the necessary tests and implement key diagnostic tools. Additionally, costs taken to introduce the relevant treatment framework should be mentioned as one of the key adverse outcomes of diabetes on the current health management framework. Finally, due to the necessity to sustain a patient’s well-being throughout the patient’s entire life, the healthcare framework deployed to manage the case is likely to be slightly challenged.
Finally, the effect of the disease and the comorbid issues on an individual is worth discussing. As emphasized above, the absence of recovery perspectives is likely to create the breeding ground for mental health issues in patients. Therefore, the implications of facing mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety should be listed among the key issues. Additionally, for an individual, the costs of developing and addressing diabetes type 2 will be reduced as well due to a drop in the range of medications utilized in the process.
The board nursing standards and the government policies issued for addressing diabetes type 2 also have a notable effect on the quality of care for patients with diabetes. Specifically, the Current standards geared toward promoting patient education and focusing on self-care as one of the principal aspects of managing diabetes encourage patient agency and allow for a large improvement in the efficacy and quality of provided healthcare services. Specifically, due to the increased patient awareness, the target audience can spot a health-related issue and a threat to their well-being immediately, addressing a healthcare service to receive immediate healthcare support (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Specifically, the Affordable Care Act, which considers diabetes type 2 as a disability factor, has emphasized the role of patient education in managing the issue (Fulton et al., 2021). For this reason, the current emphasis on patient education and awareness should be regarded as an important part of improving the quality of care for people with diabetes.
Similarly, the described trend in government policies contributes to a rise in patient safety. Owing to an increased expeditiousness in reporting a health issue and receiving an appropriate response, the levels of risk to patients’ well-being are reduced. Furthermore, the focus on more rational use of healthcare resources, particularly in the management of diabetes type 2, leads to better control of the issue and the subsequent improvement in patient safety. Namely, the risks of a patient experiencing a health issue caused by the disease or the comorbid conditions associated with it are minimized due to a more rigid control over the development of diabetes. In their paper, Futon et al. (2021) address the opportunities of incorporating patient education into the management of diabetes, among other strategies and health concerns, in the context of the ACA. Specifically, the opportunity to regulate blood sugar levels represents a particularly important part of the patient safety management process.
Finally, the policies associated with patient education on diabetes and diabetes-related concerns also affect the extent of expenses for managing the disorder, both for the system and for patients. Namely, the increased rate of awareness that the proposed framework suggests implies a faster response, which, in turn, requires a significantly lesser range of resources in the long term (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Therefore, for the healthcare system, the emphasis on patient and nurse education, while requiring additional expenses for the relevant resources for building awareness, turns out to be less expensive in the long term.
A similar effect can be observed for patients as well. Namely, the ability to identify a threat and contact respective healthcare organizations and experts in a timely manner allows for planning the management of the disease more carefully. Consequently, patients are provided with greater control over the management of expenses and, as a result, a larger number of opportunities for minimizing the costs associated with the purchase of essential medication and the use of respective therapy sessions. Overall, the suggested practice standards, namely, the active enhancement of patient education, should be treated as a vastly positive framework that allows maintaining patient safety and the quality of care impressively and undeniably high.
Although the current framework for addressing the problem of diabetes in patients., namely, the focus on patient education, seems to be sufficiently positive and vital for the successful management of diabetes-related risks, there is still enough room for improvement. Specifically, it is desirable that the current approach to diabetes type 2 management should include closer focus on nurse education. Indeed, studies show that the lack of awareness about some of the more recent changes to the paradigm of diabetes management in patients leads to inadequate care in a range of cases (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Namely, Dhatariya et al. (2020) explain that the absence of respective knowledge about the latest advances in diabetes care prevents nurses from administering some of the insulins to patients in a timely manner (Dhatariya et al., 2020). With the introduction of both patient education and diversity-related education for nurses, the quality of care suffers significantly.
For this reason, focusing on nurse education and the introduction of active nurse training to ensure that healthcare experts develop the required extent of skills and competencies for meeting patients’ needs accordingly should be suggested. It is vital for nurses to acquire the competencies needed to control the levels of insulin in patients, therefore, avoiding the development of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Studies show that the proposed approach is likely to have positive effects on the management of diabetes and related concerns in patients (Yen & Leasure, 2019). Specifically, the specified strategy encourages patients to develop agency and independence in managing their condition while also gaining extensive support and relevant treatment from nurses (Yen & Leasure, 2019). The training should be adjusted to ensure that possible cultural and language barriers are overcome successfully, and that nurses develop the necessary skills.
Since medical errors and the lack of resources represent a major concern for patient safety, the issues under analysis are also to be addressed as some of the essential barriers to managing the needs of patients with type 2 diabetes. Specifically, the control tools for measuring patients’ blood pressure and identifying deviations from the observed standard must be included in the target setting. Moreover, given the increase in the patient-nurse ratio, the framework for successful monitoring of the changes in patients’ blood pressure and the related issues must be incorporated into the nursing context. Thus, issues in the proper management and delivery of key healthcare services to the target audiences need to be handled by shaping the existing policies toward nurse education and promoting patient awareness.
In turn, the issue of cost reduction can be achieved by improving nurse communication, information management, in general, and the hospital infrastructure to ensure seamless data transfer from one healthcare expert to another. Apart from introducing strategies for seamless data transfer, the specified goal can be accomplished by reducing the extent of workload for nurses, thus, preventing instances of burnout and the resulting failure to address key tasks properly (Dhatariya et al., 2020). Consequently, the issue of medical errors will be managed accordingly.
Diabetes Type 2 remains one of the major health issues observed both globally and in the U.S. context, which is why the issue of patient awareness and education must be incorporated into the current policies for managing it. Specifically, from the perspective of the ACA, which invites the idea of increasing the extent of patient autonomy, the specified change is likely to produce positive outcomes. Namely, by building awareness and introducing patients to tools for identifying health risks, one will be able to improve the current levels of public health.
Reference
Dhatariya, K., Mustafa, O. G., & Rayman, G. (2020). Safe care for people with diabetes in hospitals. Clinical Medicine, 20(1), 21-27. Web.
Fulton, L. V., Adepoju, O. E., Dolezel, D., Ekin, T., Gibbs, D., Hewitt, B., & Woodward, L. D. (2021). Determinants of diabetes disease management, 2011–2019. Healthcare, 9(8), p. 944. Web.
Yen, P. H., & Leasure, A. R. (2019). Use and effectiveness of the teach-back method in patient education and health outcomes. Federal Practitioner, 36(6), 284-289.
