Creating a Plan of Care Utilizing the information you have gathered over the weeks regarding the specific illness group you identified, this week, you will create a plan of care for your chronic illness group. Create the plan in a 4- to 6-page Microsoft

Running Head: SUPPORT NEEDS ANALYSIS 1

SUPPORT NEEDS ANALYSIS 8

Support Needs Analysis

Tanyanika McMillian

South University

How well a patient responds and adjusts to chronic illness is largely dependent on their individual coping responses. However, social and partner support plays a critical part in the patient’s adjustment to the chronic disease. Studies have found that having social support leads to better disease outcomes and have health benefits to the patient over time.

Support Needs for the Participant

The participant has been doing well in managing his condition, and he requires support to encourage him to continue in the same manner or even do better. The caregiver can offer support to the participant by providing patient-centered care. This term relates to a type of care that is in agreement with the patient’s wants, needs, and preferences. The caregiver can support this participant in managing the illness and improving his health status by involving the participant in decision making and offering the care according to his preferences and goals. Such kind of attention moves away from the traditional protocols that did not involve the patient in decision-making. Studies have shown that patients are more committed to their diabetes management plan when the plan incorporates their personal lifestyles preferences (Sarkar, Georgiou, & Marques, 2015). It is important that a patient’s plan of care is individualized specifically to meet his or her needs and encourage compliance with diabetic management.

Another support need for the participant for further or additional education is diabetes self-management. Diabetes self-management education is an unending process that assists in enhancing the knowledge, skills, and capability that helps the patient in diabetes self-care (Weinger & Carver, 2008). Self-management refers to a diabetic’s ability to manage the symptoms, treatment, physical and psychological outcomes, along with the lifestyle changes to enable the individual to live normal with the disease. The caregiver or the nurse can support the participant by continuously educating him of the best diabetes self-management practices and offer updates on the new issues that may arise. This kind of support will make the participant more knowledgeable, which will help him feel in control of his condition, improving his confidence and giving him motivation to do more to improve his status while managing his illness.

How to Implement the Goals of Healthy People 2020

One of the aims in the Healthy People 2020 is to reduce the diabetes death rate. Diabetes is a chronic illness that does not have a cure, but management and control of the diseases can help lessen the number of fatalities among diabetic patients. The health sector and the participant can implement these objectives by continuing to check their blood sugars on a daily basis, taking prescribed medications, engaging in physical exercises on a regular basis, and making the necessary adjustments to his or her lifestyle. Undertaking these measures will help in improving the health status of patients, helping them to live longer with the disease and preventing deaths caused by diabetes.

Another objective of the Healthy People is to increase the proportion of people diagnosed with diabetes who receive formal diabetic education. The participant can implement this goal by requesting his physician to give him more materials about the disease and its management and attend other forums where training about the illness takes place. Getting the necessary education will help the participant and other patients to manage the disease. Proper management of the disease will improve the general wellness of the patient.

Another goal of the Healthy People is to reduce the number of diabetes patients who suffer from high blood pressure. People with diabetes are required to keep their blood pressure under control to avoid complications. The patient can implement this goal by checking his blood pressure on a daily basis, engage in physical exercises on a regular basis, and other medical that helps in keeping in check the blood pressure. Keeping the blood pressure under control will help in improve wellness by preventing the occurrence other complications associated with high blood pressure.

Roles of Nurses as an Advocate of the Participant

One role of a nurse as a defender of the participant is to provide information to the participant and keep him informed on how to integrate with the healthcare system (Bosek & Savage, 2007). During the entire interactions with the participant, the nurse should help the participant in understanding all diagnosis, tests, and treatments the participant will undergo during any treatment period.

The other nursing professionals’ role as an advocate of the participant is to accept and respect the participant’s decisions even when they contradict with the beliefs of the nurse (Yoost & Crawford, 2015). The nurse also plays the role of an advocate to the participant that manage to suffer either psychologically, physically, and emotionally due to the disease process from diabetes. During the entire interaction, the nurse should provide emotional support to both the participant and his family.

How the Environment Affects the Patient’s Health

One factor of the environment that may affect the patient’s health is the access to healthy foods. Healthy foods have currently become more expensive and less available. A diabetic patient requires some changes to their diet, and lack of healthy foods may affect then patient’s health because eating the wrong kinds of food may have negative consequences on the patient’s health for example, fast foods and high sugar products. The environment of the patient also affects the ability and space to have physical activity or engaging in physical exercises on a regular basis as required by the physician.

Social Determinants Affect Care or Needs of an Individual Living with a Lifetime Disease

Social determinants refer to the circumstances in which an individual is born, mature, reside and work (Hill, Nielsen, & Fox, 2013). Social determinants include the level of income, education levels, access to the right food supplies, and housing. The level of income is one of the social determinants that have a significant influence on the care and needs of a patient with a chronic illness. Having low income may cause the patient to lack the necessary finances to buy the requirement medications or make necessary adjustments to diet and lifestyle.

Access to healthy foods also affects care and needs of a patient with diabetes. The health sector has suggested that unhealthy foods are one of the sources of some chronic disease currently being experienced in the world. Doctors are recommending that people should incorporate healthy eating to avoid getting the diseases. After a diagnosis of a chronic illness like diabetes, a patient may also require making changes to his or her diet as a way of managing the disease.

Conclusion

Every patient requires various support needs to control and management of a chronic disease like diabetes. The support requirements of the client include getting patient-centered care, education and information on how to manage the condition, and having the nurse act as his advocate. To improve the wellness of the patient's health requires implementing the Healthy People objectives of reducing the diabetes death rates, increase education about the disease, and controlling blood pressure.

References Bosek, M. S., & Savage, T. A. (2007). The Ethical Component of Nursing Education: Integrating Ethics Into Clinical Experience. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Hill, J., Nielsen, M., & Fox, M. H. (2013). Understanding the Social Factors That Contribute to Diabetes: A Means to Informing Health Care and Social Policies for the Chronically Ill. The Permanente Journal, 67-72. Sarkar, I., Georgiou, A., & Marques, P. M. (2015). MEDINFO 2015: EHealth-enabled Health: Proceedings of the 15th World Congress on Health and Biomedical Informatics. Amsterdam: IOS Press. Weinger, K., & Carver, C. A. (2008). Educating Your Patient with Diabetes. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media. Yoost, B. L., & Crawford, L. R. (2015). Fundamentals of Nursing: Active Learning for Collaborative Practice. Amsterdam : Elsevier Health Sciences.