Introduction
Professional nurses are mandated and responsible for providing holistic clinical care for their patients. They are also responsible for ensuring the proper flow of communication between healthcare practitioners, patients, and their families, as well as patients’ friends, to enhance treatment outcomes. Many changes are occurring in clinical practice due to technological advancements and the increasing prevalence of diseases. Therefore, healthcare practitioners must use evidence-based practices in planning healthcare. This paper elaborates on the roles of nursing in risk reduction, healthy lifestyle management, and health promotion, as well as how healthcare settings utilize evidence-based practices to address diseases.
The Roles and Responsibilities of a Professional Nurse
Risk Reduction
Healthcare settings reduce risks through the development of risk management strategies. Risk management officers and nurses identify potential risks and rank them according to priority and possibility, then attempt to lessen or eliminate the chances of occurrence. The nurses may achieve this target through the government’s support in identifying the main health-threatening risk factors (Al Harthi et al., 2020). The next step involves preparedness to deal with risks should they arise.
The nurses may involve the community at risk due to the risk factor in education on possible ways to mitigate the risk factor. This will enable the community to learn ways to reduce or avoid the risk factors. For example, the nurses may engage a community in HIV/AIDs education and educate them on ways to reduce the spread of the disease. Additionally, most healthcare settings have strategies in place to prevent the administration of the wrong medication to patients (Al Harthi et al., 2020). This strategy enables the nurses to mitigate risks that may affect patients due to wrong medication or failure to receive the proper medication.
Promotion of a Healthy Lifestyle
Healthy lifestyles enable people to enjoy better health outcomes and can increase an individual’s lifespan. Nurses possess a broad knowledge of maintaining healthy lifestyles, which they share with their patients. For instance, they encourage patients to maintain healthy relationships, promote good sleep hygiene, manage stress effectively, and adopt healthy eating habits, all of which contribute to a healthy lifestyle (Ross et al., 2018). Nurses encourage patients to maintain such practices to improve their well-being.
Disease Management
Nurses help patients with chronic diseases manage their condition. For instance, they advise diabetes patients on maintaining balanced blood sugar levels. To ensure effective disease management, nurses must develop a strong relationship with their patients and conduct follow-ups to ensure that patients maintain healthy practices (Crisp et al., 2018). Disease management enables patients to live longer and experience less pain during their lifespan.
Benefits of Evidence-based Practice in Nursing
Evidence-based practices are the strategies that connect nursing practices to the best available research evidence and patient values. It is essential in nursing, as it enhances healthcare decision-making by promoting knowledge translation, generating new knowledge through the dissemination of scientific evidence, and fostering critical thinking and continuous learning in nursing (Crisp et al., 2018). Furthermore, EBD promotes cost-effectiveness, efficacy, and quality of medical interventions that reduce harm and pain.
Strategies for Including Evidence-Based Practice in Planning Nursing Care
While introducing Evidence-based practice in clinical practice, healthcare organizations should understand the data behind the evidence. Healthcare practitioners should recognize that although some evidence-based guidelines may be applicable in various clinical environments, others may not. Relying on irrelevant evidence might affect the treatment objectives of the clinicians. Therefore, data analysis will help determine the relevance of the evidence in a particular practice (Harthi et al., 2018).
Secondly, organizations should assess their resources to determine whether they are sufficient and efficient for accommodating the evidence. Finally, healthcare settings should develop patient-centric goals while introducing evidence-based practices. For instance, if the goal of an organization is to reduce the patient duration of stay, the organization can search for evidence that meets the target.
Pathophysiology and Etiology of Type 2 Diabetes
Pathophysiology of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is among the diseases that impact two age groups. It was formerly associated with the elderly, but due to the rising numbers of obesity among children, type 2 diabetes has been diagnosed in children. However, old age is associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes due to reduced functionality of pancreatic glands and increased resistance to insulin (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). Therefore, the pathophysiological features of type 2 diabetes are diminished beta-cell function and peripheral insulin resistance, which ultimately result in beta-cell failure and poor control of hepatic glucose synthesis.
Concepts of Human Functions Altered by the Disease
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a prevalent metabolic condition caused by two key factors: impaired insulin sensitivity in tissues and defective insulin production by pancreatic beta-cells. It may affect proper hormonal functioning, as the body uses other hormones to compensate for an insulin shortage (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). This may result in ketoacidosis, which is life-threatening if not treated.
The molecular processes involved in the secretion and release of insulin must be strictly regulated to match metabolic requirements perfectly. As a result, flaws in any systems at play can cause metabolic imbalance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (Galicia-Garcia et al., 2020). Therefore, type 2 diabetes leads to insulin inadequacy, thus affecting blood sugar regulation.
Impacts of Age on Risk Factors
Age is critical in determining the risk factors that people with type 2 diabetes are exposed to. The earlier an individual is diagnosed with the condition, the greater the risk factors, as their beta cells are damaged during the early stages of life (Garlicia-Garcia et al., 2020). Beta cells are responsible for the secretion of insulin. Therefore, patients should seek immediate medical attention to prevent further harm. Therefore, children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are at risk of developing the risk factors since they will live with damaged beta cells for a lifetime.
Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes for the Children and the Elderly
Four types of tests can be conducted to diagnose type 2 diabetes. For instance, a random blood sugar test may be adopted for individuals with symptoms such as thirst and frequent urination. Additionally, clinicians may conduct oral glucose tolerance tests, screening, and fasting blood sugar tests.
Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in children should be based on risk factors such as family history of diabetes, maternal gestational diabetes, obesity, or being overweight (Munshi et al, 2020). However, there is no specific diagnosis for type 2 diabetes for older adults (Munshi et al., 2020). Therefore, further studies should be conducted to determine the prevalence of positive tests for the condition.
Treatment for Type Diabetes Using Scientific and Evidence-based Information
An individual who tests positive during diagnosis will undergo a treatment plan, which may include blood sugar monitoring, diabetes medication, insulin therapy, weight loss, regular exercise, and a healthy diet. For the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children, long-acting insulin is frequently administered once daily, often in combination with rapid-acting or short-acting insulin, which is given with meals. On the other hand, Metformin is the preferred treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2020). Additionally, all new diabetic patients should undergo long-term CardioVascular Outcomes Trials to enhance their safety (Munshi et al., 2020). However, victims should seek a doctor’s advice rather than over-the-counter medication since different patients respond differently to treatment strategies.
Innovative Teaching Strategy
For risk reduction, health promotion, and disease management, healthcare practitioners should develop a teaching strategy that enables societies to manage type 2 diabetes. Therefore, they educate communities on the lifestyle choices that contribute to disease, when to consult a doctor, and a healthy lifestyle that individuals with type 2 diabetes should adopt to mitigate its effects (Galicia-Garcia, 2020). For instance, nurses should educate the community about the link between excessive sugar consumption and diabetes, and patients should exercise regularly to maintain a healthy weight.
Conclusion
Healthcare setups are responsible for enhancing the quality of health in a society. Nurses are responsible for health promotion through risk reduction and disease management. Evidence-based clinical practice enables healthcare practitioners to enhance health by applying evidence that has been reviewed and evaluated. This paper elaborates on the roles and responsibilities of nurses in health promotion, disease management, and risk reduction through evidence-based practices.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2020). 2. Classification and diagnosis of diabetes: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2020. Diabetes care, 43(Supplement_1), S14-S31. Web.
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Crisp, N., Brownie, S., Refsum, C. (2018). Nursing & Midwifery: The key to the rapid and cost effective expansion of high quality universal healthcare. Doha, Qatar, World Innovation Summit for Health, 1-39. Web.
Galicia-Garcia, U., Benito-Vicente, A., Jebari, S., Larrea-Sebal, A., Siddiqi, H., Uribe, K.B., Ostolaza, H. and Martín, C., (2020). Pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(17), 6275. Web.
Munshi, M.N., Meneilly, G.S., Rodríguez-Mañas, L., Close, K.L., Conlin, P.R., Cukierman-Yaffe, T., Forbes, A., Ganda, O.P., Khan, C.R., Huang, E. and Laffel, L.M., (2020). Diabetes in aging: pathways for developing the evidence base for clinical guidance. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 8(10), pp.855-867. Web.
Ross, A., Bevans, M., Brooks, A. T., Gibbons, S., & Wallen, G. R. (2017). Nurses and health-promoting behaviors: Knowledge may not translate into self-care. AORN Journal, 105(3), 267–275. Web.