Pre-Diabetes and Capturing Opportunities, Essay Example

Wainwright (n.d.) states that health promotion is defined as being cautious in consideration with diabetes according to promoting proper circulation (especially in the legs), as well as paying attention to nerves, joints and the extremities (p. 22). The author does not specifically highlight anything that would promote health, but rather, would curtail the effects of a disease (diabetes). Spencer et al. (2011) suggest that the use of Community Health Workers (CHW) have proved efficient as health advocates in certain neighborhoods, “particularly for racial and ethnic minority communities and those who have traditionally lacked access to adequate healthcare” (2253). These advocates target these populations, usually populations that have been neglected, and in turn individual’s diabetes management has become more prevalent. The author’s stance for health promotion is that it should be done on an individual basis, to increase the likelihood of proper disease management. Phillips (2014) states that health promotion is best exemplified through “having a need for every health practitioner to become increasingly ‘diabetes aware’ and for all nurses to consider potential diabetes in every consultation with every person they meet” (p. 505).  This approach is most similar to Spencer et al’s (2011) as both are trying to bring knowledge about diabetes into people’s homes by using one person at a time. This type of individual care is neglected in Wainwright’s (n.d.) article.

Wainwright (n.d.) states that the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice should apply use of the geko with patients with diabetes in the following ways: treating legs and feet for ulcers, and treatment for edema (p. 22). Thus, the author’s idea of health promotion deals with technological advances instead of nursing education. In Spencer et al’s (2011) article, they list that advocates or CHW (in place of nurses) promote education about diabetes by holding classes, as well as doing home visits. Spencer (2011) as opposed to Wainwright (n.d.) gives more specific details as to the nature of an advocate, but Wainwright speaks about nurses in particular while Spencer speaks about advocates; people who are not educated like nurses. For Phillips (2014) the purpose of healthcare is to promote knowledge instead of management (which is something that Spencer highlights in health promotion). This promotion seeks to help nurses engage in diabetes prevention strategies in their diurnal duties (p. 505). Again, this is most similar to Spencer et al’s (2011) article and most dissimilar to Wainwright’s (n.d.). Both Spencer and Phillips seek to promote everyday application of nurse’s knowledge in diabetes while Wainwright’s article seeks to focus mainly on technology. The best way to sum up the difference in each article is to say that Spencer and Phillips focus on the human aspect in healthcare while Wainwright focuses on the machinery.

With Wainwright’s (n.d.) focus on health promotion through the electrical device known as the geko, the author suggests that a nurse’s role isn’t just to take vitals, but rather to more fully invest in the patient. This investment suggests that the nurse should promote use of the geko to patients by educating them on its efficacy (p. 22). Thus, if the nurse notices that other treatments or devices the patient is using for their diabetes proves unfruitful (such as stockings, massage, exercise) then, through proper promotional dialogue, the nurse may recommend use of the geko as a more intense treatment.  Nursing education then trumps patient advocacy. For Spencer et al (2011), the purpose of the advocate’s health promotion is to bring education and opportunity to previously unsupported populations or neighborhoods. While Wainwright (n.d.) gives specifics on what device to use to promote healthy lifestyles, Spencer et al. (2011) bring a more dynamic approach to concurring rampant diabetes in neighborhoods through “development, implementation, and evaluation” (p. 2255). Phillips (2014) suggests that the nurse’s role in combating patient’s lack of knowledge is best done through making sure resources are available to the patient. Whereas before, nurses would treat a patient and end a session with them quickly, now, nurses’ roles have “knowledge and resources available to practitioners [patients]…[that] can help with meaningful evidence-based advice and education to help every person [meet] during consultations and clinical encounters to heighten diabetes prevention awareness” (p. 506). Thus, while Spencer et al.’s (2011) advocates are going house-to-house educating people as their form of health promotion, Phillips (2014) is doing pre-screenings and targeting high-risk people as their form of health promotion. Phillips is being more thorough in seeking out these at-risk people by and engaging them about how best to care for their disease through open conversations about lifestyle choices, and ways clinics may help them. Wainwright’s (n.d.) article is absent of any such talk (i.e. prevention).

The three levels of health promotion are primary, secondary, and tertiary.  Primary prevention targets specific people that fit the profile of potentially getting a disease. Secondary promotion is best stated as clinical checkups in which a physician looks at telltale signs of the disease. Tertiary promotion targets people who have acquired the disease and the goals for patients and nurses, becomes disease management. The first level only uses profiling as a means for detection; secondary promotion leaves the patient with the possibility of preventing debilitating lifestyle changes because the disease was caught early enough; tertiary promotion suggests that as the disease has already been acquired and there is no further way to end it, then management of the disease becomes the goal.

References

Phillips, A. (2014). Pre-diabetes and capturing opportunities to raise awareness. British Journal of Nursing 23(10), 505-508.

Spencer, M. et al. (December 2011). Effectiveness of a community health worker intervention among African American and Latino adults with type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Public Health 101(12), 2253-2260.

Wainwright, T. (n.d.). The role of the geko, a portable electrical stimulation device, in the podiatric management of patients with diabetes. Information Article. 22.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.