Health promotion is one of the duties of every nurse practitioner. Most importantly, patients should be encouraged to take responsibility for their health and demonstrated how their initiative reduces health costs and improves their well-being (Evans, Coutsaftiki, & Fathers, 2014). The three levels of health promotion are sufficient in curbing and treating such severe conditions as, for instance, diabetes mellitus due to their preventive nature.
Health promotion is possible on three levels. On the primary level, practitioners focus on the avoidance of a condition and the maintenance of the patients’ well-being through promotion and protection. For that sake, the task here is to educate the clients: for example, a practitioner could discuss the benefits of immunization vaccines as a means of avoiding viral infections of upper airways. The secondary level is consistent with screening and diagnosing to tackle the existing condition. The benefit of it is that timely detection of condition does not allow the dysfunction to progress. On the tertiary level, the clients are lead through rehabilitation after the condition has been identified. This step cannot prevent the dysfunction once it has happened but it can reduce the damage and avert complications. For instance, a health care program can be developed for a physically challenged person; it would include both care and education about their needs (Edelman, Mandle, & Kudzma, 2013).
Prevention and maintenance of clients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can be accomplished by health promotion on all three levels. Firstly, clients can be educated on the causes of the disease and, consequently, on their diet and lifestyle. On the second stage, the clients’ family history, BMI, IGT, blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, and other exponents should be screened to determine whether they are predisposed to the condition. Also, female patients with prior GDM should be paid attention to, as well as persons with dyslipidaemia and IFG. On the tertiary level, a high quality follow-up program should be developed for each individual client. They are to be consulted and recommended on how to deal with their condition and comorbidities, if any. A home health care program is necessary for individuals in need of foster care and guidance; also, they need to be encouraged to manage themselves whenever possible (Sørensen et al., 2015).
It was asserted that evidence-based health assessment makes a substantial difference in patients with T2DM condition; the results are largely determined by the implementation of managed health promotion (Cinar & Schou, 2013). Research has shown that patients with T2DM who were managed by health promoting practitioner teams had better clinical profiles that those who were not. The research by Cinar and Schou (2013) has also shown that, rather than receiving information passively, the clients should be empowered to progress on their own, using management programs as guidelines. By the end of the program, the coached ones had lower glycated haemoglobin and cholesterol levels. They also demonstrated higher capabilities in self-maintenance and less need in third-party assistance, e.g., home health care practitioners and such. Thus, health promotion is of utmost importance for T2DM patients in terms of condition improvement and cost reduction.
To conclude, health promotion is crucial on every level of it. It was demonstrated that conditions such as diabetes mellitus can be addressed and improved by following health promotion programs, consulting, screening, and prescribing follow-up and post-discharge treatment. Client engagement and responsibility should also be encouraged for better results and reduced health cost.
References
Cinar, A. B., & Schou, L. (2013). Health promotion for patients with diabetes: health coaching or formal health education? International Dental Journal, 64(1), 20-28.
Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L., & Kudzma, E. C. (2013). Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Evans, D., Coutsaftiki, D., & Fathers, P. C. (2014). Health Promotion and Public Health for Nursing Students. Exeter, United Kingdom: Learning Matters.
Sørensen, M., Korsmo-Haugen, H., Maggini, M., Kuske, S., Icks, A., Rothe, U.,…Zaletel, J. (2015). Health promotion interventions in type 2 diabetes. Ann Ist Super Sanità, 51(3), 192-198.