Introduction
Healthcare programs help improve the quality of life among the target population (Eldredge et al., 2016). Nurses are currently playing a major role alongside other healthcare staff in the implementation of these programs. Some of the roles that nurses play are participating in the programs, educating their patients and the community about available healthcare programs, monitoring the programs’ success, engaging the relevant stakeholders in ensuring that these programs are successful and advocating for reforms where need be. The government and other private stakeholders are coming up with useful health programs targeting the well-being of a patient. These programs, however, require closer interventions for success. There are many programs to initiate in the healthcare sector.
Diabetes Control Healthcare Program
One of the programs that I could recommend as a nurse is diabetes prevention among adults, especially the aged. In the USA, the number of diabetes cases increases with an increase in age. The most affected persons are those aged above 65 years, accounting for around 26.8% of the USA’s total diabetes cases. Targeting the aged, I estimated a cost of $130,000 to develop the program—the diabetes control program targets reducing the cases of diabetes, thus improving the quality of life. By managing diabetes, we could also prevent other diabetes-associated diseases, thus save the aged.
Our Target Population
The target population is aged since they are more vulnerable to diabetes than the younger population. If we can control prediabetes in the elderly, we can spare them from type two diabetes, resulting from a failure to manage prediabetes. The elderly are at a greater risk of diabetes complications and have a high risk of myocardial infarction (Mordarska &Godziejewska-Zawada, 2017). There is, therefore, a need to deescalate this chance of diabetes to improve the health of our elderly in the USA. Failure to manage diabetes results in other complications, for example, eye problems, kidney disease, nerve damage, heart disease, and stroke.
Role of the Nurse in Diabetes Prevention Program
In diabetes control, the nurse should play an educator’s role, a motivator, and an advanced caregiver (Nikitara, et al., 2019). As an educator, the nurse should guide the patient about diabetes management, including proper dieting, physical exercises, and education against smoking. Studies have shown that education has played a key role in diabetes control and management among most patients. As an advanced caregiver, the advanced nurse should be able to decide and carry on treatments, and ensure that the treatments are of a patient’s well-being. Finally, the nurse is a motivator when dealing with diabetes. In the program, a nurse should act as a psychological supporter to the patient, which helps patients develop a positive mind.
As an advocate for the aged, I am responsible for encouraging the aged, their families, and the community to participate in the diabetes prevention program. By offering encouragement, the program can succeed without much struggle. Most of the USA people lack knowledge about available healthcare programs, and most of them suffer from this lack of knowledge. My other responsibility as an advocate is educating colleagues about the benefits of the program. All healthcare members have to come together as one when launching and participate in healthcare programs (Eldredge et al., 2016).
I also have the responsibility of advocating the healthcare program to the relevant authority, including the government, about the program. Other authority personnel includes senior healthcare workers responsible for evaluating how effective a healthcare program can be if initiated. With this collaboration, the program can easily gain the relevant certification, allowing the aged to enjoy the diabetic healthcare guidelines from the program. The advocate nurse is also held responsible for any misinformation present when coming up with a program. As such, I am responsible for ensuring that our stakeholders’ data are accurate and per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics.
Nurses in Healthcare Program Implementation
Nurses are involved in very many aspects when implementing a healthcare program (Harrington, 2015). These roles range from developing programs for both the staff and patients, organizing the programs to be a success, and implementing care programs. A nurse is a central person in healthcare delivery; they are also essential in healthcare program implementation. Since the nurse is a link between other staff, the patient, and the family, they should participate in these programs to develop feedback and a form of communication between the healthcare stakeholders.
The organization of a healthcare program is one of the essential approaches to ensure a successful program. Most programs fail due to a lack of organization, and they fail to meet their intended purpose. With a nurse as a participant in healthcare programs, there is a guarantee of an organization. Also, nurses can implement healthcare programs easily than most of the healthcare team members. It is so because they spend most of the time with a patient, they can recommend the most vital areas of concern when coming up with a healthcare program.
Participants in Healthcare Programs
Some of the members that I believe play a key role during the implementation of a health program are nurses, doctors, rehabilitation therapists, spiritual, emotional, social supporters, community health workers, and technicians. Nurses play a role in educating their patients since they spend most of the time with a patient than other healthcare team members. By understanding a program in depth, nurses will learn how they should spend their time with the target population. Doctors are responsible for recommending treatments and performing procedures. Participating in a healthcare program can recommend the best approaches towards the treatments to offer during the specific program.
Spiritual, emotional, and social supporters play a role in encouraging patients. In a healthcare program, they provide the best approaches to use when guiding patients in the best living ways. The other members are rehabilitation therapists. Their role is offering rehabilitation to patients, and they, should, therefore, participate in healthcare programs. Their participation is set to offer guidelines in the best approaches that the members should implement when designing rehabilitation activities. With the collaboration of healthcare team members, programs have always succeeded, and the participants can exchange ideas and evaluate the best approaches to use when coming up with the program.
Conclusion
Healthcare programs are vital for a patient’s well-being, and healthcare stakeholders should participate in these programs. Among these stakeholders are nurses, who play an essential role in ensuring that the programs are successful. One of the programs to consider is diabetes prevention, targeting the aged since they are at a greater risk of the disease, which puts them at the risk of other potential diseases. Although the program is private-based, the government should also support such programs to ensure that the citizens have a healthier life, thus saving healthcare costs due to other diseases accompanying diabetes.