In Nevada, diabetes is a widespread illness that impedes the quality of life of many people and has high mortality rates. For instance, King et al. (2021) state that “30.3 million individuals or 9.4% of the US population are living with the condition and it is the 7th leading cause of death in the general population” (p. 20). Recently, there was a slight downward trend for African American patients, which is a promising tendency that should be fixed through nursing interventions (King et al., 2021). Noteworthy, the national Healthy People program has more than 40 diabetes-related objectives for the following decade to be met. These include improved educational practices for patients with diabetes, reducing vision loss in diabetes patients, reducing the rates of death from any cause in adults with diabetes, reducing the rate of foot and leg amputations, and the number of cases diagnosed annually (“Healthy People,” 2022). Therefore, there is an urgent need to implement various programs to improve the health of the nation.
Nurses are always on the frontline of all health crises, and the diabetes crisis is no exception. The professional roles of nurses are usually related to their job responsibilities and cover a large amount of patient health-related issues. In this regard, there is an urgent need to promote the professional role of nurses for diabetes African-American patients in Nevada. The promotion can be implemented by developing detailed guidelines describing the current trends in diabetes treatment in this group, the reassessed recommended interventions, and role responsibilities. For example, the programs of at-home visits or family-centered care can be developed to better meet the patient needs of the chosen group.
References
King, C. J., Moreno, J., Coleman, S. V., & Williams, J. F. (2018). Diabetes mortality rates among African Americans: A descriptive analysis pre and post-Medicaid expansion. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 20-24.
Health People 2030. (2022).