NSG 4055 Week 3 Project – Illness and Disease Management Appropriate Interventions of the Nurse

When talking about diabetes, I mentioned several goals. Nurses and caregivers may have a crucial role in achieving these goals. We need help to reduce the number of diagnosed cases of diabetes. She can start from the first days of training. For example, if someone has diabetes, we can teach them how to manage illness. The patients must be educated to effectively care for their legs and feet (Ajay et al., 2016). Amputation is so common in diabetics only because of inadequate personal care. They must be vigilant so that we are aware of any pain or numbness that begins to appear. We must ensure that they comprehend the significance of monitoring and managing blood sugar and diets to control blood sugar (Suinyuy et al., 2019). It is also significant to ensure that the patients understand the importance of controlling cholesterol levels (Doenges et al., 2019). It is significant for the health of the heart.

Nurses as Advocates

We also discuss the significance of annual foot and eye exams. We should educate the patients to perform these tasks. Uncontrolled diabetes can seriously damage people’s eyes and legs (De Silva et al., 2016). We must make sure to evaluate the changes that occur as soon as possible before the patient discovers that they are occurring. It is also important that the patients have an annual dental exam (Rossaneis et al., 2016).

Implementing Healthy People 2020 Goals

We can also use various interventions to treat diabetics and achieve Healthy People 2020 goals. We must ensure that the patients monitor their blood sugar levels before meals as well as at bedtime (Healthy People, 2020). It is imperative that the hemoglobin A1C must be monitored every three months to ensure that blood glucose levels are maintained. It is essential to assess and ensure that the patient understands the signs of hypoglycemia (Healthy People, 2020). They must pay attention to tremors, anxiety, and difficulty in speaking. We need to control the temperature, heart rate, color, and feeling of the legs. These are just a few of the ways we can help treat patients.

Impact of the Environment on Patient’s Health

The risk of other health complications related to diabetes is high. Continuous management is needed to control blood glucose and monitor microvascular diseases (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy), as well as atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (Rossaneis et al., 2016). The lower limb amputation rate in diabetic patients is 10 to 20 times higher, and 7% of diabetic patients have vision-threatening retinopathy. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) caused by diabetes alone is estimated to be 12-55%, about 10 times the risk of people without diabetes (Gettings et al., 2018). Finally, people with diabetes have 2 to 3 times the risk of cardiovascular disease than people without diabetes (Suinyuy et al., 2019).

Conclusion

There are several things that a nurse practitioner can do to manage diabetes. When our patients see the content of medical care, they get surprised, and they need help so that they can effectively manage their illness. However, with our help, we can help them understand better than when they first arrived so that they do not get overwhelmed by the illness and participate effectively in the care process.

References

Ajay, V. S., Jindal, D., Roy, A., Venugopal, V., Sharma, R., Pawar, A., … & Prabhakaran, D. (2016). Development of smartphone‐enabled hypertension and diabetes mellitus management package to facilitate evidence‐based care delivery in primary healthcare facilities in India: The mPower heart project. Journal of the American Heart Association, 5(12), e004343.