Benchmark-Capstone Project Change Proposal

Benchmark-Capstone Project Change Proposal

Background

To manage diabetes, it is critical for healthcare facilities and professionals to develop mechanisms to help diabetes patients improve their quality of life (Rushforth et al., 2016). Developed mechanisms should include managing the condition, lifestyle modification techniques, patient perspectives, and drug adherence factors. For nurses to effectively help diabetes patients manage the disease, they must be provided with special education, resources, time, and equipment (Powers et al., 2016). As a result, they can offer diabetes patients a self-management education program via the short message service platform to help enhance their self-care knowledge about the disease.

Clinical Problem Statement

Diabetes patients lack efficient knowledge about diabetes disease and how they can manage it. They are unaware of diabetes medication regimes, medication adherence, and self-management education and support practices, limiting their well-being. Diabetes remains a chronic condition, with patients still experiencing barriers to improving the condition optimally. The latter is even worse with healthcare personnel lacking special education on the disease and inefficient resources, equipment, and time.

Purpose of the change proposal in relation to providing patient care in the changing health care system

The essence of this change proposal is to address the need to educate diabetes mellitus patients on the importance of self-management education programs to help improve their health conditions. Also, the essence of this change proposal is incorporating strategies to help healthcare professionals with special education, time, resources, and equipment vital for managing diabetes conditions.

PICOT question

In adult patients with diabetes mellitus, can a self-management education program through the Short Message Service platform instead of no education at all enhance the patients’ self-care knowledge by 15% within six months?

Literature search strategy employed.

To fully develop the relevant literature essential for this project, a systematic literature search was applied. This technique was critical for key steps formulation to define the clinical problem statement, select critical databases and formulate primary keywords among them are diabetes mellitus, and further carrying out the actual search and evaluation processes.

Evaluation of the literature

Du Pon et al. (2019) argue that diabetes limits a person’s capacity to respond or produce hormone insulin causing carbohydrates, abnormal metabolism, and elevated glucose levels in the blood. The authors, therefore, argue it is essential to provide diabetes patients with condition management education via the help of short message service to aid their adherence.

Adikusuma and Qiyaam (2017) also argue that using short message services enhances the patient’s medicational adherence. According to the two, a self-management education program was vital for helping diabetes patients have positive attitudes and knowledge towards care plans and diabetes management.  In sentiments supported by Saucier et al. (2017), a self-management education program was vital and helped create diabetes patients’ awareness to manage the condition effectively.

On the other hand, Nikitara et al. (2019) pointed out that nurses faced significant barriers when assisting patients living with diabetes. Besides lacking enough knowledge to help diabetes patients manage the condition, they also lacked enough resources, time, and equipment. Therefore, the nurses failed to effectively help diabetes patients exercise the proper self-management education and support strategies to improve their quality of life. Sorensen et al. (2020) thus insist it is essential for healthcare responsive bodies to develop criteria vital for assisting nurses in helping diabetes patients manage the condition.

Applicable change or nursing theory utilized.

This change theory applies Lewin’s Change Theory arguing that changes occur in three steps. Unfreezing as the first step addresses resistance happening to people affected by the transition. Changing as the next step incorporates implementing actual change, while the final step in Lewin’s change theory is the refreezing stage. It deals with change stabilization. This change proposal will be critical to educate patients who have diabetes about the essence of a self-management education program. The latter requires a set of change aspects dealing with self-care regarding medication adherence, among other features. The process which focuses on prompting new behaviors to manage diabetes results in positive reformations in self-care.

Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures

Developing the right policies, standards and techniques remains one of the vital implementation plans. It will help nurses get the proper special education on diabetes, have enough time, equipment, and resources to help diabetes patients manage the condition. The additional implementation plan is educating diabetes mellitus patients on the essence of a self-management education program which Overally boosts their knowledge on diabetes management.

Discussion of how evidence-based practice was used in creating the intervention plan

Since time-immemorial, evidence-based practices remain vital for developing the right plans and ensuring that all possible obstacles are handled appropriately when conducting research. In this proposed change, evidence-based practices were critical for developing intervention plans. The latter was necessitated by researching the best self-management education program and tools such as the Short Message Service platform vital for helping diabetes patients manage the condition. The research was implemented to note the significant barriers nurses face when helping diabetes patients manage their condition and some of the significant issues also faced by diabetes patients limiting their management of the disease.

Plan for evaluating the proposed nursing intervention

The Impact Evaluation Technique will be used in this project change. This evaluation strategy will be important in assessing the participant effects on this project. Precisely, the impact evaluation technique will incorporate a short implementation analysis checklist. This will be critical in helping diabetes patients, and the overall population notes the essence of maintaining a healthy living and various behavioral changes and action plans for diabetes management. The impact evaluation technique will be implemented within months and further ensure selected participants engage fully in the outlined action plan.

Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation and a discussion of how these could be overcome

Significant challenges faced by diabetes patients include a lack of knowledge and time to fully grasp the essence of diabetes medication regime and medication adherence and the ideal ways to improve their health conditions. Also, nurses face potential barriers: a lack of enough time, equipment, resources, and self-education knowledge essential for aiding the patient’s management of diabetes disease. These barriers will effectively be managed if healthcare facilities and personnel develop critical outcome policies, standards, measures, and equipment essential for educating nurses and diabetes patients on the various management styles to improve their quality of life. Also, healthcare personnel must create new education techniques and platforms to help boost diabetes patients’ understanding of vast techniques to manage the condition.

Conclusion

The essence of this change proposal is to emphasize the role of healthcare centers and professionals in developing mechanisms essential for helping diabetes patients improve their quality of life. Among the critical mechanisms this change proposal focuses on is introducing a self-management education program, which helps enhance diabetes patients’ self-care knowledge about the disease via the short message service platform. Furthermore, this change proposal uses various literature searches and empirical evidence to discuss the role of self-management education programs in educating diabetes mellitus patients on the importance of self-management education programs to help improve their health conditions. This change proposal generally notes that developing the right policies, standards and techniques remain vital in helping nurses get the proper special education on diabetes, have enough time, equipment, and resources and, help diabetes patients via self-management education programs to manage the condition.

References

Adikusuma, W., & Qiyaam, N. (2017). The effect of education through short message service (SMS) messages on diabetic patients’ adherence. Scientia Pharmaceutica, 85(2), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/scipharm85020023

Du Pon, E., Wildeboer, A. T., Van Dooren, A. A., Bilo, H. J., Kleefstra, N., & Van Dulmen, S. (2019). Active participation of patients with type 2 diabetes in consultations with their primary care practice nurses – what helps and what hinders: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4572-5

Nikitara, M., Constantinou, C. S., Andreou, E., & Diomidous, M. (2019). The role of nurses and the facilitators and barriers in diabetes care: A mixed-methods systematic literature review. Behavioral Sciences, 9(6), 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9060061

Nikitara, M., Constantinou, C. S., Andreou, E., Latzourakis, E., & Diomidous, M. (2020). Views of people with diabetes regarding their experiences of the facilitators and barriers in type 1 diabetes inpatient care: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Behavioral Sciences, 10(8), 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10080120

Powers, M. A., Bardsley, J., Cypress, M., Duker, P., Funnell, M. M., Fischl, A. H., Maryniuk, M. D., Siminerio, L., & Vivian, E. (2016). Diabetes self-management education and support in type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Educator, 41(4), 417-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145721715588904

Rushforth, B., McCrorie, C., Glidewell, L., Midgley, E., & Foy, R. (2016). Barriers to effective management of type 2 diabetes in primary care: Qualitative systematic review. British Journal of General Practice, 66(643), e114-e127. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16x683509

Saucier, A. N., Ansa, B., Coffin, J., Akhtar, M., Miller, A., Mahoney, H., Hodo, D. M., Duffie, C., Fontenot, B., Andrews, H., & Smith, S. A. (2017). Patient perspectives of an individualized diabetes care management plan. European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare, 5(2), 213. https://doi.org/10.5750/ejpch.v5i2.1292

Sørensen, M., Groven, K. S., Gjelsvik, B., Almendingen, K., & Garnweidner-Holme, L. (2020). The roles of healthcare professionals in diabetes care: A qualitative study in Norwegian general practice. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 38(1), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2020.1714145