Intervention Presentation and Capstone Video Reflection – The Black American Population

Hello, and welcome to my practicum reflection video. My name is AN-ON. In this short video, I will share my experiences during my practicum period and the development and implementation of a lifestyle change as an intervention solution regarding heart disease among Black Americans. The intervention included focusing on creating awareness among Black Americans on heart disease, adopting a healthy lifestyle that helps control the risk factors for heart disease, and improving access to community resources and health care services for the community. I worked closely with patients and a number of representatives from the Black American population to improve the outcomes of the disease across the population and the experiences of individuals within the community.

I want to share with you how much the intervention contributed to the satisfaction and quality of life of the patients and members of the Black community. The intervention enhances the patients’ and the community’s experience by letting them control the implementation and having an open environment for 2-way communication. After reviewing the intervention against the set benchmarks and other quality indicators, we found it quite successful. The intervention has contributed immensely to the patients’ and the community’s satisfaction and quality. Five patients struggling with managing their high blood pressure said they had experienced notable improvements in the symptoms after following the lifestyle interventions. The patients note that now they can engage in their daily activities without worrying over blood pressure fluctuations. Another patient who has been struggling with CAD noted that after adhering to the intervention, they have seen improvements in their symptoms and are no longer using as many medications as they used before. Another patient with CAD and comorbid diabetes has noted improvements in both CAD and diabetes symptoms as she has continued managing her weight and controlling what she eats.

The lifestyle modification intervention was developed based on the available evidence on managing heart disease through lifestyle changes and modifications. I focused on empirical evidence that provided details on implementing lifestyle modification as an intervention and the role of leadership in achieving the intervention’s goals, including leadership in supporting collaboration, communication, and the coordination of care for patients from the Black American population. I also drew evidence from peer-reviewed literature on how best to align leadership, multidisciplinary teams, and community resources to benefit the Black American population in improving access to cardiac care and information on self-management and reducing risks. I ensured the principles of evidence-based practice, including consideration of expert perspectives, external and internal evidence, and patient and group opinions and views on heart disease and the management of the disease. To get the best evidence to guide the intervention’s development and implementation, I ensured that the literature reviewed was from authors with authority on the subject of heart disease and lifestyle changes for disease management and prevention. The literature also had to have been published or updated to fall within a range of the past 5 years and target a professional audience.

I have immensely integrated technology in developing and implementing the intervention to support effective communication between the patients, the community, and the care professionals involved in delivering cardiac care. I also used technology to support the patient’s self-management and support other informal caregivers to heart disease patients. For instance, I incorporated telemedicine to support collaboration among the interdisciplinary teams taking care of the patients, reduce care expenses related to traveling and waiting times, and improve access to care services as needed. I also applied mHealth and smart bracelets linked to smartphone applications to improve patient and support patient monitoring and connections with their caregivers and care professionals. Based on my experiences in incorporating technology as a part of the intervention, I see a number of opportunities for improved healthcare use in future practice. For instance, as medical data becomes a critical driving element of the healthcare system, the use of blockchain technology will become essential for health data management and security (Farouk et al., 2020). Additionally, the growing complexity of medical data creates the need for advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to improve disease diagnosis and treatment based on the data (Davenport & Kalakota, 2019).

Healthcare policies greatly influenced the planning and implementation of lifestyle changes and modifications to improve disease and health outcomes and reduce costs