Performance Management and Health Informatics
The Healthy People 2020 diabetes objectives are aimed at reducing the economic burden that diabetes mellitus puts on victims. They are also designed to improve the quality of life of people suffering from the condition and those that are at high risk of developing the health complication. Diabetes mellitus occurs when an individual’s body cannot respond or produce sufficient insulin to break down glucose. Insulin is necessary for the absorption of glucose in the human body. When there are no blood sugar signals that are normally facilitated by the presence of insulin, the body sugar levels rise to alarming levels and leads to other metabolic anomalies. These lead to serious health complications that are disabling (Healthy People, 2016).
Engaging Communities
The approach to management of diabetes has incorporated interventions that pursue patent-based self-management and changes in lifestyle that deal with diabetes mellitus issues. It is not always easy for diabetes patients to spend time with their health providers and have all their concerns addressed. It is essential to have a community health worker attending to the diabetes victims to solve this concern. Community health workers tend to be more flexible and dynamic. They help identify resources for the patients and provide case management assistance. Therefore, health care workers such as nurses and doctors should be equipped with skills to enable them deal with patients in a more culturally sensitive way and to respond to patient needs on a case-to-case basis. Such an approach will influence the adherence to treatment interventions by patients. Moreover, there is evidence that in order for some interventions to succeed, there is need to incorporate the relatives and family of the affected individuals (Chambers, Comer-HaGans, & Ramamonjiarivelo, 2014, p. 91).
There are several techniques that have been seen as effective in this review from the perspective of engaging diabetes patients. Using self-management, utilization of health services on a regular basis and adopting healthy behavior by pursuing nutritious diets, physical activities and weight management demonstrated that a higher level of engaging the subjects produces a lot of desirable significant results. The review of the findings points to the need for health care givers to pursue engagement approaches. Further, it was shown in the review that using community health workers and clinicians leads to better outcomes in dealing with diabetic patients (Chambers, Comer-HaGans, & Ramamonjiarivelo, 2014, p. 94).
Leadership in Diabetes
Diabetes care faces leadership issues at the moment. It is a currency within the NSF delivery strategies for diabetes. Leadership in the nursing sector has been for a long time associated with politics and those in high office but appear isolated from the practical realities of the sector. In the past few years, there are various leadership alternatives that have been identified. Transformational leadership theory suggests that the input from each person is valuable. Such a perspective is closely associated to the principle of shared governance, which focuses on involving the entire workforce and promotes collaborative ownership of making decisions and power. It is clear that the nursing and health care industry is experiencing a significant change in the way they have carried out their operations. It is likely to be a challenge for nurses, especially those who do not consider their input a valuable contribution to the overall objective of health care. The idea of self-management and leadership encourages persons to recognize the fact that they are valuable through expressing and applying their experience in the practice of health care and consequently influencing the evolution of patient care service and outcomes (Avery et al., 2003, p. 390).
There are several models that have been crafted to assist the prevailing leadership initiatives that seek to enable collaboration between nursing professionals and the industry in general. Joe Marsh is credited with the original leadership vision that sought to enhance the collaborative model (Avery et al., 2003, p. 391) that serves as a link between healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies.
Issues, Barriers and Disparities
Issues
New evidence suggests that diabetes has links with other health comorbidities, including
Cognitive complications
Risk of fracture
Risk of cancer and prognosis (Healthy People, 2016)
Incontinence
Barriers
Some of the barriers to overcome in the diabetes care practice include:
Problems with the system
A disturbing number of people with diabetes, which may lead to lowered attention and the resources available, and those allocated per individual for the treatment of the ailment (Healthy People, 2016)
Disparities
Type II Diabetes tends to affect people from minority populations more. Indeed, 25% of diabetes patients among adult populations come from minority communities. The majority of diabetic children and adolescents also come from these minority populations
African-Americans, American Indians, Native Hawaiians, Hispanic and some Pacific Island residents stand a greater chance of developing type II diabetes.
The prevalence of diabetes among American Indians is between 2 to 5 times that manifested by white people. African-Americans stand a 1.7 times higher likelihood, while Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans are twice as likely to develop the condition as the non-Hispanic whites of gate same age (Healthy People, 2016).
Conclusion
It has been observed that trying to balance between family obligations and work may make the management of diabetes a lot harder, owing to the feeling of obligation. Health care providers and other professionals in the health sector should always support people in the effective management of chronic ailments in order to avert negative implications. There is emphasis on improved public awareness and education focused on matters of emotion and other associated barriers to trickle down the support needed to assist people adopt diabetes management strategies in their lifestyle. The healthcare sector should seek ways to assist diabetes patients with a focus on pursuing positive lifestyle changes. This may turn out to be more cost effective than implementing drug related therapies (Fukunaga, Uehara, & Tom, 2011, p. 6).
References
Avery, L., Brown, F., Da Costa, S. & Watkinson, M. (2003). The leader within: Self-leadership in diabetics nursing. Journal of Diabetics Nursing, 7. Retrieved from http://www.thejournalofdiabetesnursing.co.uk/media/content/_master/2493/files/pdf/jdn7 -10-390-3.pdf
Chambers, N.A., Comer-HaGans, D., & Ramamonjiarivelo, Z. (2014). Approaches to negating low-income communities in improving their diabetic health: A review of the literature published in the 21st century. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 15. Retrieved from http://www.na-businesspress.com/JMPP/ChambersNA_Web15_5_.pdf
Fukunaga, L.L., Uehara, D.L., & Tom, T. (2011). Perceptions of diabetes, barriers to disease management, and service needs: A focus group study of working adults with diabetes in Hawaii. Preventing Chronic Disease, 8. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3073425/pdf/PCD82A32.pdf
Healthy People. (2016). Diabetes. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics- objectives/topic/diabetes
