State Board Nursing Practice Standards and/or Organizational or Governmental Policies Affecting Diabetes Impact on Quality, Safety, and Cost Capella 4900 Assessment 2

The American Nursing Board provides some nursing practice standards which guide nurses in providing the best quality of care and enhancing patient safety. The ANA nursing practice standards of practice include assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation (American Nurses Association, 2015). The nurses can follow these standards for nursing practices in improving diabetes’ impact on quality of care and patient safety.

By appropriately assessing diabetes symptoms in patients and diagnosing it early, they can plan and implement particular strategies to manage diabetes such as diabetes self-management education on lifestyle modification, pharmacological therapy, and medication adherence, etc. Through implementing effective interventions, positive outcomes can be expected which will result in improved quality of care and enhance patient safety.

Capella 4900 Assessment 2

The governmental policy i.e. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) can contribute to lowering the costs incurred by patients and the healthcare systems. The policy of expanded health insurance coverage to patients with pre-existing conditions like diabetes has alleviated the burden of the expense from patients’ shoulders. The patients can afford various healthcare services, medications, and related preventive care measures through this policy as a result of increased access to health insurance.

The ACA has also provided provisions to promote delivery system reforms like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that promote effective collaboration and coordination of care among healthcare professionals at hospitals. Through collaborative and coordinated care delivery, hospital costs of diabetes can be reduced as the hospital readmission rates will be lessened when the quality of care provided is improved (Marino et al., 2020).

These standard practices and policies guide  nursing scope of practice by enlightening knowledge on how to assess and identify the symptoms in case of diabetes patients and look for evidence-based strategies and interventions that are tailored to patients condition and needs. The ACA policy can help Michael in affording the expenditures of diabetes-related medication and blood glucose monitoring. As Michael knows little about such policies, I can guide him on that so he can take full benefit of this policy and improve his condition.

Evidence-Based Strategies to Improve Quality of Care, Enhance Patient Safety, and Reduce Costs in Diabetes

Considering Michael’s condition of diabetes and his prime requirements, the evidence-based strategies that can be effective for improving the quality of care, enhancing patient safety, and reducing costs are as follows:

• Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) program
• Remote monitoring of medication adherence 

Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support Program

DSMES programs are one of the evidence-based strategies that have the potential to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety and reduce costs to patients and healthcare systems. In the DSMES program, patients are educated on self-care and self-management tactics and plan to manage their diabetes themselves. Through the DSMES program, patients can be empowered to take their own care with appropriate education and support. Patients who are negligent of their disease acquire knowledge, skills and gain enough confidence to manage their diabetes effectively. These skills can include blood glucose monitoring, medication adherence, healthy eating, physical activity, and managing hypoglycemia.

This leads to improved self-care behaviors and better medication & care treatment adherence as their own participation in improving their condition is enabled. All these factors contribute to improving the quality of care. The DSMES program also facilitates early detection and identification of diabetes-related complications by educating patients about the signs and symptoms of these morbidities related to diabetes. This prevents the incidence of related complications such as cardiovascular problems, renal diseases, and foot ulcerations.

Early detection of diabetes-related complications enhances patient safety, reduces hospital readmission rates, and lowers costs to both the patient and the healthcare systems (Powers et al., 2020). This strategy will be effective in Michael’s case as his primary concern is unhealthy food intake and a sedentary lifestyle.

Remote Monitoring of Medication Adherence

As in Michael’s case, medication non-adherence is a major barrier to diabetes management. For this purpose, remote monitoring is an evidence-based strategy that can promote medication adherence and improve glycemic control. Hea