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

Locating Resources

Tanyanika McMillian

South University

One of the greatest challenges in diabetes care is to design and implementing effective lifestyle modification strategies. In the past, several programs focused on the change in individual behavior without integrating change within the community. This approach has led to poor diabetes outcomes throughout the community. Various studies have found that it is necessary to match the needs of the patients to the availability of community resources to them (Tung & Peek, 2015). Using this approach assists the patients with the ability to manage their diabetes to quickly change their behavior in a better way. This paper discusses some of the national and community resources for people living with diabetes.

Texas Diabetes Council

The Texas Diabetes Council is a body that engages in addressing the issues affecting people living with diabetes in Texas. This also offers advice to the Texas Legislature on the best laws that are necessary to assists the patients to develop and maintain an excellent quality education services for the diabetic patients and the medical professionals who offer diabetes education and treatment (Texas Department of State Health Services, 2016). In addition to providing these services and being a resource for the residents of Texas, this resources also engages in activities held at a national wide level.

TDC together with the Texas Health and Human Services System have a Texas Diabetes Newsletter that interested parties can subscribe to receive news about the TDC treatment practices, and read about resources of patient education. The newsletter also includes information on updates by the National Diabetes Education program, information about other contemporary issues on the treatment and management of diabetes, the available education opportunities in the state and other information concerning diabetes. The person interested in receiving this newsletter subscribes to receive the newsletter through email. The individuals have the right to unsubscribe or re-subscribe at his or her will.

TDC have also partnered with TMF Health Quality Institute in offering the Health for Life Diabetes Initiative which engages some community partners and physicians with an aim to remove the existing health disparities and create more opportunities for the underserved patients living with diabetes to join the Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME). The DSME uses a comprehensive program to teach the people living with diabetes on the best practices to follow and improve their health.

The benefits of this resources is that it offers a periodic newsletter that can help the reader in learning the best practices of diabetes management, partners with other organizations that provide similar services to serve the underserved patients, and provides a list of agencies that can help people with diabetes. To be eligible to use this resource, you have to be a resident of Texas and a diabetic.

Texas Health Resources

Another resource in our community is the Texas Health Resources (THS). The primary purpose of this resource is to offer advice to the patients living with diabetes on the best way to improve their health status by assisting them to make good food choices, proper nutrition and moderation of healthy practices. THS encourages patients living with diabetes to work with experts who have the necessary skills to assist them in the best way to prepare their meals to have a healthy lifestyle. It is possible for a diabetic person to live a healthy lifestyle if he or she gets the right education. THS has eight outpatient diabetes education centers that have been accredited by the American Diabetes Association (Texas Health Services, 2016). Each of the centers has trained and licensed nutritionists who have excellent experience providing instruction and dietary counseling to patients suffering from both diabetes and pre-diabetes.

These education centers have other professionals like diabetes educators, registered nurses, and registered dietitians whose primary duty is to help educate the patients on the best diabetes management skills to assist them to live healthy lifestyles. This program also includes other types of curriculum for both individuals and group learning series. These professionals assess the specific needs of each of the attending patients at the beginning and end of the learning series. The reason for making these assessments is to set personalized goals for each of the patients so that they can incorporate these targets and elements in their daily life. The services offered in these education centers include group and individual counseling, training on how to monitor blood sugar, and use medications; personalized nutritional counseling that can assist the patient to fit a variety of lifestyles, stress management, and monthly support group meetings for the patients and their families.

The benefit of this resource is that it offers professionals who educate the patients on several issues concerning the types of foods to take, how to plan their diets, how to monitor their blood sugar levels, physical exercises and social support for the patients and their families. Eligibility for this resource is a diagnosis with diabetes and the fees payable depend on the services offered. The support does not provide any transportation for patients.

Joslin Diabetes Center

This center has a pool of physicians, nurses, nutritionists, exercise physiologists and educators who are well equipped to provide services to the patients (Joslin Diabetes Center, 2016). The services provided at this center include issues about nutrition, how to treat low blood glucose, how to avoid complications associated with diabetes and a range of other services aimed at managing diabetes. The benefits of this resource are that it offers the necessary education to assist the patients to live healthy lifestyles through effective diabetes management. The eligibility for application in this resource is a diagnosis with diabetes. The fees vary depending on the services offered and the duration of the services. The Center does not provide transportation of services.

How to integrate these resources into plan of care

These resources offer several services that have a significant contribution to the healthy living of the diabetes patient. In my plan of care, I would encourage diabetic patients to subscribe to the services of two of these three resources so that they can get the necessary education to manage their diabetes. The implementation of these services in the life of the patient will significantly improve the health status and assists the patient in preventing the occurrence of other diabetes complications.

Advantages and disadvantages for vulnerable populations in seeking these services

The primary advantage of finding these resources is that they help in improving the general health of patients and prevent the occurrence of other conditions associated with diabetes. The resources also offer the information necessary for making the necessary dietary and lifestyle changes to manage diabetes. The third advantage is that the resources offer the patient an opportunity to interact with some professionals with an extensive experience in issues concerning diabetes. The disadvantage of seeking these resources is that some of their services also come at a cost that may have a financial burden on the patient.

References Joslin Diabetes Center. (2016, November 30). Living with Diabetes. Retrieved from Joslin Diabetes Center: http://www.joslin.org/diabetes_information.html Texas Department of State Health Services. (2016, November 17). Texas Diabetes Council. Retrieved from Texas Department of State Health Services: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/diabetes/ Texas Health Services. (2016, November 30). Diabetes Education Centers. Retrieved from Texas Health Services: https://www.texashealth.org/pages/services/diabetes.aspx Tung, E. L., & Peek, M. E. (2015). Linking Community Resources in Diabetes Care: a Role for Technology? Curr Diab Rep, 614.