Improving Self-Management of Diabetes: Best Practices and Recommendations

Current Practice

In this paper, you are asked to consider your own practice area, and 
• Choose a challenging problem related to a population of patients facing neurological, sensory, integumentary, or endocrine illnesses. 
• Define the problem clearly. 
• Outline current practice. 
• Review the literature on best practices in relation to this problem.
 • Determine best practice recommendations for your practice area and clearly reference rationale. Who are the stakeholders, other than the patient, who will be impacted by a practice change?
 • Outline the tasks involved in moving to this new practice. How will you measure if change has occurred and how would you go about creating an awareness regarding need for change in your workplace? 

(Hint: change can be done incrementally, therefore pick a very discrete manageable change to address in this paper).

First assignment paper outline – Will be submitted on October 9, 2021
Example of a Leadership Practice Experience Outline The first part of the assignment, submission of an outline, is to create an introduction with a clear statement of the practice problem/topic and population, an outline for the essay, and a reference list. The submitted outline should be 1.5 – 2 pages in length. Please follow the sample outline below. 

EXAMPLE OF OUTLINE2 Outline-Improving Self-management of Diabetes 
In this paper I will describe an area of practice concern for diabetic patients and I will suggest practice revisions based on best practices. Introduction [Define problem, population, and current practice] Diabetes is a chronic illness and patients need to learn to self-manage all aspects of their care in order to achieve and maintain optimal health. While newly diagnosed patients are the primary focus of concern, in my 30 years of experience working with patients who are living with diabetes, I have discovered that many lack up-to-date information on selfmanagement. Lack of understanding of self-management of diabetes results in sub-optimal outcomes for this population In the small hospital where I work, patient care and clinical management is fragmented. Patients often receive little real assessment of their level of diabetes self-management expertise. Additionally, while their blood glucose levels and diet are managed by nurses, technicians, dietitians, and medical staff, there are many lost opportunities to enhance patient learning and self-management during hospitalization.

When the patient is discharged to home, they are likely to revert to the same practices they had prior to admission. In the community, patients living with diabetes are likely to be followed by their family doctor, often a different endocrinologist or internist, and perhaps nurses and others in diabetic clinics or in community care. Based on a review of the literature, I believe that the development of an online diabetes module that allows patients to access information, upload blood sugar readings, and keep online exercise, diet, foot assessment, and medication logs would greatly enhance patient knowledge and diabetes self-management. It would also create the potential for continuity across the health care sectors and would allow for measurement of change in patient outcomes and satisfaction with care. In this essay I will outline the best practices related to diabetic management and the tasks and resources that would be required to change diabetic monitoring and improvement of self-management. 

• Review the literature: between 250-350 words = approximately 1-1.5 page(s) 
• Determine best practice recommendations: approximately 250 words or 1 page 
• Stakeholders: between 200-250 words = approximately 1 page 
• Outline the tasks and resources: between 200-250 words = approximately 1 page 
• Expected outcomes: between 200-250 words = approximately 1 page 
• Creating an awareness for change: between 200-250 words = approximately 1 page 
• Conclusion: approximately 150 words = approximately 1/2 page