Essay Sample on Teamwork and Collaboration for Patients With Diabetes

Diabetes is the most common metabolic disease in the world. Today, 171 million people worldwide are diabetic and the number of patients is expected to explode to 366 million by 2030 (Habib & Rojna, 2013). Like many chronic diseases, diabetes requires complex management and involves many health professionals for an extended period of time. The caregivers, doctors, nurses, dieticians, podiatrist pedicures and all other stakeholders are important and play a crucial role in managing the disease. Diabetes team members are responsible for advising on diabetes-specific treatments, in terms of nutrition, medication, monitoring, and self-management.The integrated diabetes team can formulate a comprehensive program of diabetes care and ensure standards of care are met. Support between team members is not only beneficial for patients but also enhances professional development and support for critical thinking skills.

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In the management of the diabetes team, patients are key members. Before patients accept responsibility for personal care, they must understand the status of the disease, its effects on health, and the practical aspects of management. Good communication between team members is important so that the advice provided is consistent and not confusing to the patient. Primary care physicians play an important role in coordinating the management of diabetes patients in terms of education, counseling and facilitating the "technological/human relevance" often encountered by chronically ill patients (Conca et al., 2018). The primary care physician is the front line of care and will usually be responsible for the overall management. In situations where there is no diabetes educator or nutritionist; primary care physicians and/or clinic nurses must carry out comprehensive education for patients. The nurse collects information about the patient, informs the doctor, and performs the examination. The next important step in a nurse's job is to determine the patient's needs. Diabetes educators can often spend more time than primary care physicians, to strengthen patients' knowledge and skills on nutrition, physical activity, self-monitoring, medication use, foot care and more.

The role of dietetic officers in diabetes management is important. Only lifestyle changes (healthy foods and exercise with weight loss) are sufficient for glycemic control for most patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Advice must be given individually for maximum cooperation. The initial reference to the Dietetic Officer is necessary to ensure a detailed education on this aspect. Advice from a specialist doctor/endocrinologist may be needed for patients with complex problems or those with diabetes-related complications, especially children, adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes or pregnancy diabetes (Szafran et al., 2019). Primary Care Physician's shared care with other physicians is the best combination of specialized expertise and continuity of treatment. In many cases, these specialists will be involved in the integrated diabetes team providing comprehensive diabetes education programs. The podiatrist is a specialist in the prevention of foot problems (Conca et al., 2018). If there is evidence of neuropathy, micro or macular disease or foot anatomy problems, early referral is appropriate and follow-up appointments are required. It is useful to get specialized physiotherapy assistance in a regular exercise routine or a physiologist when starting a physical activity program for inactive patients. All these members need to collaborate to successfully manage the disease.

The coordination of these professionals is at the base of the effectiveness of the care. It is particularly important in choosing an optimal trajectory for the patient regarding orientation and follow-up, as well as the harmonization of the decisions of the different professionals. In practice, the patient has a follow-up notebook in which the common therapeutic objectives, the interventions of the various professionals, the clinical and paraclinical data necessary for follow-up and general information useful to the patient are recorded (Conca et al., 2018). The primary care physician has a follow-up sheet for each patient established according to the guidelines. For the patient, this management improves compliance with treatment by sharing information about the disease and its course. For the health care system, teamwork and collaboration make it possible to reduce dysfunctions, overconsumption of care and the recourse to hospitalization. Collaboration is also a cost control tool and helps in containing the growth of health expenses.

References

Conca, T., Saint-Pierre, C., Herskovic, V., Sepulveda, M., Capurro, D., Prieto, F., & Fernandez-Llatas, C. (2018). Multidisciplinary collaboration in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care: Analysis using process mining. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(4), e127. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8884

Habib, S. L., & Rojna, M. (2013). Diabetes and risk of cancer. International Scholarly Research Notices Oncology, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/583786

Szafran, O., Kennett, S. L., Bell, N. R., & Torti, J. M. (2019). Interprofessional collaboration in diabetes care: perceptions of family physicians practicing in or not in a primary health care team. BMC family practice, 20(1), 44. https://bmcfampract.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-019-0932-9