Learning Barriers and Opportunities:
Newly Diagnosed Diabetic Patient
Introduction
The condition of diabetes challenges physical, psychological and behavioral aspect of an individual especially the newly diagnosed. In community nursing, the primary principle to be considered is to establish the capacity for self-care and independence through the aid of health teaching and learning methodologies. However, due to the challenges proposed by condition, DM (Diabetes Mellitus), there are certain considerations in terms of possible barriers and opportunities that need to be emphasized in order to enhance the learning potentials and participation for newly diagnosed patients. Diabetes care requires families and supporting individuals to learn and apply complex treatment procedures, such as medication administration, etc. According to Sperling (2003), health care providers also hold the task of assisting not only the patient but also the families and other support circle to attain the capacity for independent diabetic care management (p.259). The possible barriers that are given emphasis in this study are the economical aspect, culture and superstition, and the common misconceptions towards DM cases and regimens. Meanwhile, for the sake of learning potential enhancements under community nursing approach, the study emphasis learning opportunities in accordance to the discussed barriers in the study.
Discussion
Learning Barriers
Diabetes nutritional and health care program must be established under the consorts of appropriate nursing education; however, this requires the set patient compliance and participation to learn, and the interest of the patient and supporting circle to attain independency in care management, especially for newly diagnosed case. According to Long et al. (1995), an integral part of the treatment of DM is education of patients for them to assume responsibility for required self-care, including seeking medical advice for treatment when needed (p.515). In terms of learning barriers, the usual response after the knowledge of DM diagnosis is the belief that the condition is not to be taken seriously. The societal culture suggests to the newly diagnosed patient that DM is a mild disorder, while the patient may also use this as defense mechanism to deny the extremes of the condition. In addition, the patient may not consider the treatment regimen or become behaviorally incompliant to the procedures due to the loss of behavioral models that portray empowerment of health through the said regimen. In addition by Long et al. (1995), the adherence to learning outcomes is greatly affected by the economic barriers (p.517). As for the newly diagnosed patient, the initial impacts of the condition usually affect the economic condition of the family. Restriction of access to health care and employment are problems for newly diagnosed patients. The usual structure and extent of their lifestyle are greatly altered by the effects on the condition. The learning barriers are also affected by inconsistency of information and belief per culture of diverse society. In fact, the coverage of diabetes education varies from state to state, although the inconsistencies are generally minimal.
Learning Opportunities
Teaching among diabetes patient should begin at the time of diagnosis and continue until the patient attains the capacity to maintain the treatment regimen. Education programmes for diabetic patients usually starts in the planning process, which is considered an essential means in attaining the learning goals and eliminate the learning barriers. In the initial management, the cognitive capacity and skills are the ones being emphasized by the community nurse practitioner. The needs of the patient as per learning and corrections of those misconceptions are the necessary inclusion to this phase. Patient education should be tailored to the characteristics of individual patients, and the content of the teaching process should be appropriate and applicable to the patient’s metabolic characteristics. After the establishment of learning needs, the nurse takes the teaching to another level by means of home management wherein the patient becomes self-sufficient in terms of disease management. Lastly, the nurse encourages the improvement of life-style wherein the patient gains understanding on how to enrich life despite of the condition – regaining flexibility in disease management, insights and determination. These are the main purposes of learning opportunities that the community nurse needs to establish among newly diagnosed patients.
Conclusion
Learning barriers exist most especially among newly diagnosed DM patients due to the fact that their physical, psychological and sociological aspects of humanity are greatly affected by the condition. Community nurse practitioners need to consider these barriers in order to facilitate the applicability and appropriateness of nursing interventions. The community health programmes should be well patterned to these barriers in order to answer and needs of the newly diagnosed patients. In addition, the patient needs should not be focused in the majority of metabolic characteristic, but rather, it should be an individualized care and teaching modality in order to attain maximum learning outcomes as per learning opportunity.
References
Long et al., B. C. (1995). Adult Nursing: A Nursing Process Approach. Elsevier Health Sciences Press.
Sperling, M. A. (2003). Type 1 Diabetes: Etiology and Treatment. Humana Press.