Culturally safe health promotion strategies and effective education strategies have the capability of altering the attitude and behaviors of patients and helping them to adopt healthy habits. They help in developing the health literacy of the patients making them understand the significance of their modified behaviors on their health (Dorresteijn et al, 2014). This assignment will analyze a case study where health professionals would first identify the care properties and accordingly adopt education strategies for helping the patient to change his attitudes towards health and develop better quality life at the same time of maintaining cultural competency and developing therapeutic relationship.
Mr. Boulia is a 47-year-old aboriginal man who is suffering from grade-2 diabetic neuropathic ulceration. The patient is in need of proper wound management and antibiotics. One important risk that should be also cared for by the professional is that the patient is at a risk for developing heart disorders as his family history shows other members being affected by coronary heart disorders (Van Netten et al., 2016). He is a smoker and consumes a high-risk diet of sugar and fat that increases the chance of the heart disorders. However, one important thing that also needs to be stated here is that he has poor medication adherence with respect to insulin self-administration that results in poor glycemic control. This would result in fatal consequences on his health. The nursing professionals need to care for the symptoms that have higher chance of affecting the individuals and therefore, they need to critically analyze the situations, understand the urgency and then set up care protocols and education regime (Yazdanpanah, Nasiri, & Adarvishi, 2015).
One of the most important health concerns that have been identified is the caring for the grade 2 diabetic neuropathic ulceration. Researchers are of the opinion that grade 2 diabetic foot ulcer is a kind of wound that penetrates to the tendons as well as the capsule. Foot ulcers are indeed one of the most common complications of poorly controlled diabetes. This happens mainly by the breaking of the skin tissues and exposing the underlying layers beneath them. They are mainly found to be common under the big toes as well as the balls of the feet. Poor circulation, high blood glucose sugar, nerve damage as well as irritated and wounded feet are some of the causes of the ulcers in the foot (Armstrong, Boulton, & Bus, 2017). Mainly poor blood circulation is a form of vascular disorders where the blood cannot flow to the feet efficiently causing difficulty for the ulcers to heal. Mainly reduced functioning of the nerves due to the peripheral diabetic neuropathy results in reduction of pain sensation in the foot making to prone to get damaged without the individuals feeling it. Very strenuous situation might result in situations where gangrenes can take place in stage 5 leading to amputation. To prevent such occurrences, this should be considered as acute problem that needs to be cared.
Another potential problem that is also identified is his poor glycemic control. It is found that he does not adhere to his medications properly and even is not careful about insulin administration that he was prescribed in the last visits. Therefore, if he does not maintain his blood glucose level and it remains high, various types of negative outcomes will result. Long term complications associated with improperly controlled blood glucose level and untreated hyperglycemia are cardiovascular disorder, nerve damage, kidney damage, and damage to retina, feet problems, ulcerations, bone joint problems, teeth and gum issues and others (Bus et al., 2016). The cellular systems of the organs will not receive any energy and might not work effectively resulting organ disorders as well. Therefore, glycemic control, insulin administration and other medication should be managed and adhered to effectively.
The first topic that should be addressed is the effective foot care and wound management by which the patient named Ernie would be able to reduce the chances of deterioration of the wound preventing the risks of leg amputation. Researchers are of the opinion that when individuals have poorly managed diabetes control, they might suffer from foot complications like infections and ulcers which do not want to heal due to poor circulation. This might result in the loss of the foot or the leg of the individual even with chances of the life of the patient. Even chances of occurrence of corns and calluses, development of dry cracked skin as well as nail disorders might also take place (Skafjeld et al., 2015). Hammertoes and bunions, charcot foot and poor blood flow might also take place if the patient does not care about his feet effectively. If untreated, infections might occur and this will make the situation much worse with the passing days unless gangrenous situations take place. Therefore, the patient should be educated about how to take care of his feet and management the already made wound effectively. This would prevent the chances of worsening of the feet conditions and amputations. Better he gets educated better will be his skill of management. When the patient understands about the complications that diabetes might result and the ways such complications occur, the adherence of the patient towards foot care would increase (Monami et al., 2015).
Another topic is poor glycemic control. Poor glycemic control can result in various types of complications. The patient is also seen to be not adhered to the insulin administration procedures in a discipline manner and he does not monitor his glucose levels effectively. Improper glycemic control might results in organ failures affecting his quality of life. Cardiovascular disorders, kidney disorders, retinal issues, neuropathy, improper metabolic functioning and many other issues might occur. Therefore, it is very important for the patients to understand the importance of the effective glycemic control and the different interventions that the patient needs to manage his glucose levels effectively (Crawford et al., 2015). Therefore, the professionals should educate the patient about ways to manage the glycemic control through diet, lifestyle management and other. He should be educated about the ways by which he can take insulin medication at the disciplined time and use the glucometer to measure blood glucose level and be self aware effectively.
Researchers are of the opinion that patient education is indeed an integral procedure, which helps in enhancing as well as changing the knowledge of the patient modifying their attitudes as well as their skills that help in maintenance and improvement of the health. The healthcare professionals need to help the patients in indentifying their risky barriers that contribute to ill health and should help them to develop their health literacy (Bell et al., 2015). One of the interesting strategies that the nursing professionals can adopt is the using of the appropriate duration materials and tools for helping the patients to understand the correct ways of managing the disorders. The patient in the case study needs to develop knowledge about effective ways of foot care. The best method that would be used here is the teaching of the patient with pamphlets or brochures as well as with you tube videos that will be conducted in the primate healthcare centre only. Four important genres need to be covered like that of the inspection of the foot, washing of the foot, drying the foot as well as the moisturizing of the foot (Brown et al., 2016). When such steps are written clearly with dot points and are beautifully decorated with attractive images about the ways of doing the steps, it becomes easier for the patients to understand and develop a clear idea about what they need to do. The brochures that should be handed to the patient in the case study would have the above points mentioned along with attractive images. It would also have different types of healthy foot habits like the use of antiseptic lotions; never using of the hot water bottle, heat pad as well as electric blanket on feet; avoiding of walking on bare feet, protecting the feet from heat or cold; not attempting to remove corns, calluses, warts, or other foot lesions by themselves and others. Besides, all-important guidelines to be followed during toenail care, footwear socks and shoes and many others should be also written in simple words without the use of technical jargons and interesting clear images. This would make the patient understand the guidelines and follow them effectively (Saffari et al., 2014). The professional should first describe the handout in details and then help the patient to get a clearer perspective with the help of a YouTube video. Here, the patient would get a visual representation about how the steps and the guidelines would be followed and this would help in creating a visual image. This has positive outcomes helping the patient to develop skills to take care of the foot effectively.
Another important topic that should be taught to the patient named Ernie is the effective glycemic control by the lifestyle management, effective adherence of the insulin administration as well as the proper handling and usage of the glucometer. One of the effective strategies for educating the patient would be the teach-back strategy that will be conducted in the primate healthcare centre only. In this form of teach-back strategy, the healthcare professionals should be first explaining an important concept, procedures as well as self-management technique to the patient. The healthcare professionals then need to ask the patient in repeating the lesson given to him and ensuring whether the patient had understood the entire thing or if there is any gaps left in the assignment (Bowen et al., 2016). The patient in the case study would be told in details about the different lifestyle management procedures like diet management, physical exercises regimes and other. Proper discussions regarding the maintenance of insulin administrations regimes, setting off alarms clocks or reminders in making the patient remember and similar other tactics should be taught to him so that he does not forget taking insulin. Proper ways of using the glucometer, ways of handling it, maintaining hygiene and others should be also discussed with the patient. The professionals should then ask Ernie to synthesize the health information and then he should repeat it in his own words. This will help in understanding whether the patient truly comprehends the health information. If the patient is not able to do so, then the professionals have to think of other ways to help the patients to understand (Coppola et al., 2016).
The first step of reflection is description of the event. While caring for the client, I would get the opportunity to interact with a patient of another cultural background. The next step is called the feeling stage. Initially, I was quite apprehensive and nervous thinking how I would perform in caring of a patient with different backgrounds. Then I self regulated my feeling and developed the confidence that the openness of my cultural background and the cultural awareness that I had developed in my university classes would help me to handle the case effectively. The next step is the evaluation phase. From the very early childhood, my cultural traditions had always taught me to be open-minded and accept all other cultures openly without developing any negative feelings for the other. My parents have always taught me to be culturally sensitive and asked me to mix with people of all cultures just as I mix with people from my own culture. This would be helpful in handling the patient and educating him more successful.
The next step is analysis stage. People are of the opinion that more one remains transparent and accepting to other cultural norms and traditions, the lesser remain the chance of being culturally biased. I do not like judging other cultures according to the viewpoints exercised by my own culture. This helps me to be respectful for other cultures as well. The patient named Ernie is of the aboriginal background that has its own cultural traditions, preferences and inhibitions. I should respect all their cultural sects, values and beliefs and accordingly develop therapeutic relationship with him. I would communicate with him with verbal and bon vernal communication skills in ways that align with their culture and make him feel respected. The next stage is conclusion and action plan stage. In my future also, I might need to handle more such cases. Therefore, I would ensure that my cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity and unbiased behavior would help me providing culturally competent care to them. I would go through more trainings and evidence based studies to become more competent in provide care to culturally different patients.
From the above discussion, it is seen that the patient was suffering from diabetic foot ulcer. He was not maintaining the glycemic control and was not adhering to the insulin administration. He was also having improper diets high in sugar and fats. Therefore, it was important for the professionals to educate him on these topics to help him develop better quality life. Education with proper materials and tools and by adopting the teach-back methods, for ulcer management and glycemic control management need to be taken. Moreover, it is extremely important for professionals to have cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity and cultural competence so that they can effectively care for the patient ensuring person centered care and development of therapeutic relationship.
References
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