Essay Example Dedicated to Evidence-Based Practice in Diabetes

Evidence-based practice has been proven to be an effective approach in the management of diseases. Various treatment approaches that have been identified to be effective have been developed. The success in managing diabetes depends on the extent to which the patients and their care givers follow the management practices. Despite these efforts however, there are concerns that the evidence based practice practices and guidelines are not being followed. Management of blood sugar is very critical if any levels of success are to be registered (Von & Kjaer 2014). The patient together with the care giver needs to constantly monitor these levels for them to be in a position to determine the best intervention. There is however some factors that have been identified to be an impediment to the effective management of blood sugar. Most of these impediments are related to the failure by the patients as well as their care givers to follow the EBP guidelines.

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The commercialization of healthcare services particularly by the private health facilities has contributed to the lack of adherence to evidence based practice. Private healthcare institutions are increasingly facing strained financial situations making them likely to invest more time and resources in the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes (von & Kjaer 2014). Hospitals that serve areas inhabited by poor populations such as black Americans are particularly affected by this problem. Most people from such communities do not have a medical cover that can help them to receive premium services for their treatment. They are also not in a position to pay for premium services. To ensure that these healthcare institutions make enough money to keep them in business, they increase the number of patient per every available caregiver. The end result is that they get the basic care as opposed to personalized care which is the evidence based practice for the disease. In taking care of patients suffering from diabetes, care providers should closely monitor the glucose levels of the patient and advise accordingly on what to do. Due to the overwhelmed facilities and personnel, hospital visits are reduced to meetings for additional drugs as opposed to monitoring.

Lack of adequate patient education is another major challenge in the implementation of evidence based practice for patients suffering from diabetes. Evidence shows that continuous retraining of patients helps in updating them on the most recent approaches to managing their condition. Proper monitoring of blood sugar has by far remained one of the best approaches in the effective management of diabetes. The patients should therefore be taught on a continuous basis how to do it. Many healthcare institutions however do not invest in patient education and this leads to information gap which in effect disadvantages the patient as he will not be in a position to monitor the glucose levels effectively.

Diabetes management goes hand in hand with proper diet. Most of the patients however do not take seriously the important role of healthy diet in management of diabetes (Unger, 2015). Some patients may simply not afford the diet due to poverty while those who may afford lacks adequate education on the kind of diet that is appropriate for them.

References

Unger, J. (2015). Diabetes Management in Primary Care. Wolters Kluwer Health.

Von A. & Kjaer T. (2014). The patient perspective of diabetes care: a systematic review of stated preference research. Patient. 7(3):283-300.