Introduction
Chronic diseases can cause great inconvenience to people in their daily lives. At the same time, such diseases require comprehensive measures to overcome their consequences and control symptoms. An active health promotion approach is essential to address the causes and prevent their occurrence effectively. The impact of chronic diseases on patients under the care of a nurse can significantly complicate the course of treatment. Introducing nursing practices that promote health is a way to overcome the adverse effects of chronic diseases. In this regard, the paper aims to consider three ways the patient’s or their family’s health can be improved.
Three Strategies to Promote Patient and Family Health in Managing Chronic Diseases
Patient Education
The education of a patient’s and their family is an imperative aspect to prevent the exacerbation of chronic diseases. In the case of diabetes, increasing the patient’s understanding of the nature of the disease can play an essential role in how the patient recovers from another treatable disease. Diabetes management is necessary for many people as they may overlook many of this disease’s developmental factors and complications (Woodcock et al., 2020). By improving the knowledge of patients and their families, nurses can achieve better results by focusing their attention on the disease with which the patient presented to the clinic (Robinson et al., 2022).
To prevent the aggravation of a person’s condition, nurses can use a set of training sessions to help control diabetes. The patient and their family must sufficiently study self-help strategies to identify when intervention may be needed accurately. An example of patient education is individual educational sessions that can significantly improve the behavior of patients and emergencies. Effective delivery of knowledge, combined with practical exercises, can help patients increase their understanding of how they can influence their diabetes symptoms.
Psychosocial Support
Strengthening the patient’s health can refer not only to physical influences but also to moral support. Diabetes can have a significant impact on a person’s psycho-emotional state by suppressing it and affecting motivation. Nurses can apply a range of interventions to help improve overall health. Emotional support should be given first and foremost, as this can influence active listening and establish a positive dialogue between the client and the nurse (Dineen-Griffin et al., 2019). By acknowledging the emotional issues that can arise from the symptoms of diabetes, the client will be much more effective in dealing with the depression and stress caused by the disease.
In psycho-emotional support, classes and training can be conducted with the patient and their family’s participation, enhancing the overall moral preparation. An example of psychological support would be creating a support group that will include family members to help the patient improve interpersonal relationships (Robinson et al., 2022). In addition, the involvement of family members in a health promotion course can positively impact their interaction and spending time together. They can better understand the patient’s feelings and condition if they spend more time with them and provide psychological support (Robinson et al., 2022). Joint activities and setting up positive thinking and communication in the family can help improve a person’s psycho-emotional state.
Preventive Care and Early Detection
Improving patients’ health is inextricably linked with the early detection of complications of diabetes and the adoption of preventive measures. Active management of risk factors that can trigger complications from diabetes can help to alleviate the consequences for the patient’s health. This is also important to prevent adverse side effects that complicate life activities (Ahmad et al., 2022). First, the complex of health promotion through early detection of complications is associated with regular medical examinations, which should be carried out with the patient. Foot, eye, and blood and urine tests should be done regularly to avoid unexpected adverse effects.
In addition to analyzing the body’s health indicators, it is also essential for nurses to be confident in how the patients take care of themself. An example of preventive care and early detection of this can be implementing a system for assessing and monitoring behavior about health. Observing the patient’s behavior and how they care for their health status can help ensure that the previous steps of informing and providing a psycho-emotional state are carried out (Apovian et al., 2019). In this way, nurses can help the patient become more conscious and independent, positively affecting overall well-being and preventing complications.
Conclusion
It should be noted that health promotion in the context of ensuring the elimination of the complications of diabetes has several important aspects. First of all, the health promotion of patients with this chronic disease can be ensured through patient education. This can significantly improve the patient’s condition as they can help themselves and become better aware of their condition.
The second important aspect is psychological help, which can strengthen the patient’s and their families’ morale. The third nursing intervention is preventive care and early detection of complications from diabetes. From this paper, the reader can learn important information about what aspects can improve the health of a patient with diabetes and what practices can have a positive effect.
References
Ahmad, E., Lim, S., Lamptey, R., Webb, D. R., & Davies, M. J. (2022). Type 2 diabetes. Lancet (London, England), 400(10365), 1803–1820. Web.
Apovian, C. M., Okemah, J., & O’Neil, P. M. (2019). Body weight considerations in the management of type 2 diabetes. Advances in therapy, 36(1), 44–58. Web.
Dineen-Griffin, S., Garcia-Cardenas, V., Williams, K., & Benrimoj, S. I. (2019). Helping patients help themselves: A systematic review of self-management support strategies in primary health care practice. PloS one, 14(8). Web.
Robinson, M., Padgett Coehlo, D. & Smith, P. (2022). Family health care nursing, 7th ed. F.A. Davis Company.
Woodcock, T., Barker, P., Daniel, S., Fletcher, S., Wass, J. A. H., Tomlinson, J. W., Misra, U., Dattani, M., Arlt, W., & Vercueil, A. (2020). Guidelines for the management of glucocorticoids during the peri-operative period for patients with adrenal insufficiency: Guidelines from the Association of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Physicians and the Society for Endocrinology UK. Anaesthesia, 75(5), 654–663. Web.