Implementation Plan
Implementation of the Proposed Solution
The research proposes to use a comprehensive education program to reduce incidences of diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot in the population. Since diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot are diseases that occur due to changing lifestyles in the society, Corken (2009) argues that comprehensive education of the population is the effective way of reversing the alarming trends of the diabetic conditions (p. 7). To meet its objectives, the research outlines plans of comprehensive education of both the patients and the general population in various healthcare institutions across the country for a period of six months to enhance external validity of the findings. Education of patients focuses on treatment and management of the diabetic conditions while education of the general population aims to create awareness that is critical in prevention, treatment and management of the same through healthful lifestyles.
Resources for Implementation
Implementation of the comprehensive educational program requires resources such as educational materials, healthcare educators, healthcare institutions, subordinate personnel, attendance cards, questionnaires, patients’ database, record books, notebooks, and teaching materials among other stationeries. Since the research entails intensive and extensive education of the patients and population, it requires a great deal of educational materials in form of pamphlets and brochures that patients can retain after undergoing the educational process. Healthcare educators are also necessary for they play a critical role in educating patients and the general population at their respective healthcare institutions. The subordinate personnel are members of the community that participate actively by encouraging participation of patients and the general community in the comprehensive educational program. Participation of the subordinate personnel is very important as Kandel (2000) asserts that, “education of patients regarding diabetic foot complications should be provided using a variety of techniques, incorporating both community and medical settings” (p. 5). The other necessary materials are part of researchers’ tools that ensure collection of valid and reliable information in the field.
Methods for Monitoring Implementation
To monitor implementation of comprehensive educational programs, the healthcare educators will be recording the daily number of patients and the general population who participate in educational process to ascertain the trend of attendance. Patients and the general population will have attendance cards, which indicate the number of days one has participated in educational process and thus an important parameter of determining the extent of education. The healthcare educators will also ask questions at the end of the educational process to ascertain whether the participants are getting health tips that are essential in prevention, treatment, and management of the diabetic conditions. Poljicanin, Pavlic-Renar, Metelko, and Coce (2005) recommend that frequent assessment of the participants enable the healthcare educators to customize their mode of teaching to suit the demands of the patients and the general population (p. 45). Participants who have attendance of more than a week will fill questionnaires that seek to establish the extent of practical application of health tips regarding prevention, treatment, and management of diabetic conditions at their respective homes.
Theory of Planned Change
The research employed Lewin’s theory of change in the design of the implementation plan. Basing on Lewin’s theory of change, comprehensive education program exists in balance of opposing forces between healthcare educators and the participants, patients and entire population. While healthcare educators are the driving forces of change that ensure implementation of comprehensive education program, the participants are restraining forces that prevent implementation of the program. Therefore, for the planned change of comprehensive education to occur effectively, it requires competent healthcare educators to motivate participants, and incorporation of subordinate personnel from the community to enhance their attendance. According to Kritsonis (2005), “some activities that can assist in the unfreezing step include: motivate participants by preparing them for change, build trust and recognition for the need to change, and actively participate in recognizing problems and brainstorming solutions within a group” (p. 1). These activities are very critical in enhancing effectiveness of comprehensive education program.
Feasibility of Implementation Plan
The implementation plan is very feasible since it does not need much resources that may stall progress of the project in the event of insufficiency. The plan takes a period of six months, which is neither too short to compromise the findings nor too long to demand more resources. Since the healthcare institutions and educators are already available resources in the health care system, the only critical requirements are customized educational materials and research logistics, which depend on the performance of the researchers. Availability of the above requirements greatly enhances the feasibility of the implementation plan.
Evaluation Plan
Outcome Measure
Evaluation of Project Objective
To evaluate the impact of a comprehensive education program, the research will assess patients’ databases during the period of six months and compare with other previous records or current records in other healthcare institutions that do not have comprehensive education program to ascertain if there are any significant changes. Since the objective of the research is to reduce incidence rates of diabetes mellitus in the population with the view of preventing diabetic foot and other complications associated with diabetes mellitus, diagnostic and treatment records will give essential information concerning the incidence rates of the diabetic conditions (Tobin, & Kennedy, 2009, p. 34). The trends of diagnosis and treatment of diabetic conditions in the healthcare institutions reflect the changes in lifestyles of the patients and general population in response to comprehensive education program.
Validity and Reliability
Outcome measure of assessing patients’ databases is valid and reliable because comprehensive education program have compounding effect in reducing the occurrence of the diabetic conditions in the population. Thus, indirect assessment of patients’ databases in terms of rate of diagnosis and treatment of the diabetic conditions shows the impact of comprehensive educational program. The research expects that increasing cases of diagnosis and treatment during the early period of the project will be due to increasing awareness of diabetic conditions. The extent to which patients respond to medical appointments and treatment measures shows compliance, which is an impact of comprehensive education program (Ortegon, Redekop, & Nissen, 2004, p. 905). Overall, the research expect that incidences of diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot will decrease due healthful lifestyles, early diagnosis, treatment compliance and enhanced management of the diabetic conditions.
Evaluation of Data Collection
Methods for Data Collection
To collect the findings of the research, questionnaires and patients’ databases in various healthcare institutions provide necessary data for analysis. Weekly questionnaires in which both the patients and general population filled will show the extent of compliance to the prevention, treatment, and management measures of the diabetic conditions. Patient’s databases are critical sources of data since they provide the trends of diagnosis and treatment of patients in selected healthcare institutions. As control experiment, the study will rely on previous and current databases in healthcare institutions where comprehensive education program will not cover.
Resources for Evaluation
Questionnaires and patients’ databases are prime resources that provide huge amount of data that require statistical tools to evaluate. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is the appropriate resource that is essential in the analysis of the data to establish if there is any significant reduction in the incidence rates of diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot. SPSS tool is very accurate in correlation analysis of the data, hence helpful in determining whether there is strong or negative correlation between comprehensive education and incidences of diabetic conditions relative to control data.
Feasibility of the Evaluation Plan
Evaluation plan is feasible because questionnaires and patients’ databases provide enough information that warrants the use of SPSS tool. Questionnaires and patients’ databases contain detailed information of the general population and diabetic patients respectively, thus their statistical analysis give credible results. Therefore, so long as the data in the questionnaires and patients’ databases are accurate, statistical analysis will present viable and valid results of the research.
Decision Making
Plans to Maintain and Extend Successful Project Solution
To maintain the success of the project according to its objectives, healthcare educators will ensure that participants of the comprehensive education program get some rewards for regular attendance and bringing more participants. The use of rewards will ensure that the attendance of education process increases with time thus keep the study running for a period of six months or even more if needed. Realization of the project’s objectives will lead to expansion and extension of the project to include all healthcare intuitions and become a yearly assessment of diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot incidence rates, with the view of diminishing their incidences in the population. Provision of comprehensive education program concerning the diabetic conditions in all healthcare institutions is the prime extension of the project.
Plans to Revise and Terminate Unsuccessful Project Solution
The biggest challenge in this project is attracting a greater number of participants in the comprehensive educational program to enhance external validity of the findings. If the research does meet sufficient number of participants, it will consider ways of reaching to greater number of patients and the general population. Measures such as extensive advertisement of the comprehensive educational program to attract general population and selective use of healthcare institutions that have relatively more diabetic patients will increase the number of participants. As a contingency measure, the researchers will produce educational materials and other requirements in bits to avoid unnecessary loss in the event that the comprehensive education program appears unviable. For the sake of the few patients and members of the population who will have participated in education program, the researchers will liaise with various healthcare institutions in ensuring that they continue receiving relevant education to improve their health status with respect to diabetic conditions. This ensures smooth termination of the project without adversely affecting the participants.
Provision for Contributions and Criticisms
Due to complexity of the diabetes mellitus and diabetic foot, the proposed solution of comprehensive education program targeting the patients and the general population have some weaknesses that need contributions and criticisms as well. Moreover, since proposed research is at formative stages of implementation, the researchers will be seeking criticism and contribution from other researchers to refine various parameters of the proposed solution. The researchers will also consider seeking firsthand information from the healthcare professionals and experts concerning factors that are critical in enhancing validity and credibility of findings to warrant generalization of the findings.
References
Corken, A. (2009). Prevention and Early Intervention for Diabetes Foot Problems: A Research Review. American Association of Diabetes Educators, 1-13.
Kandel, S. (2000). Take Care of Your Feet for a Life Time. American Association of Diabetes, 1-13.
Kritsonis, A. (2005). Comparison of Change Theories. International Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, 8(1), 1-7.
Ortegon, M., Redekop, W., & Nissen, L. (2004). Cost-Effectiveness of Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Foot: A Markov analysis. Diabetes Care, 27(4), 901-907.
Poljicanin, T., Pavlic-Renar, I., Metelko, Z., & Coce, F. (2005). Draft Program of Prevention of Diabetic Foot Development and Lower Extremity Amputation in Persons with Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetologia Croatica, 34(2), 43-49.
Tobin, C., & Kennedy, C. (2009). A Health Care Provider’s Guide to Preventing Diabetes Foot Problems. National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-50.