Unit 6 – Clinical Practice Experience Teaching Plan
Introduction
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 10% of the USA population has diabetes. In recent years, type 2 diabetes has significantly increased becoming a major public health concern. Research has shown that type 2 diabetes is preventable (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health). The measures to ensure prevention include control of obesity, eating healthy and engaging in physical activities. There has been increased knowledge of the risk factors through research but there is an existing gap between knowledge gained through research and what is happening on the ground in the public health sector. One of the main goals of public health is to reduce this gap between research and practice through education. Public health education programs on diabetes will reduce these gaps but ensure actions and practices that will promote control and prevention of the disease. The program will incorporate scientific knowledge and community preferences to boost the health of the people. Sound evaluations are necessary for evidence-based interventions to be deployed.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the body is unable to use the insulin produced or to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is responsible for regulating blood sugar. Diabetes is a serious disease that can lead to serious complications like kidney disease, depression, nerve damage, eye diseases (Chawla, 2012) and many more complications. It is also very costly to treat and manage diabetes and the medical expenses for people with diabetes are estimated to be double the costs of those people without diabetes. Due to the costs and complications associated with diabetes, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle to ensure prevention. Most people are not aware of the causes and prevention measures of diabetes until it is too late. Diabetes and the complications associated with it can lead to death. The World Health Organization listed an estimate of 1.5 million deaths that were caused by diabetes in 2019. In 2012 2.2 million people died due to high blood glucose (World Health Organization, 2021). This proves how dangerous diabetes is and the need to involve the community in its prevention and control.
Local health departments are essential for promoting diabetes control and prevention in the community. It is beneficial to have an authority that represents the community in partnership with the program. The program aims at reducing the gap between research and practice of diabetes prevention and control. Most of the existing research has been published and documented through various channels but the gap still exists and it is leading to the growth in the population of people with diabetes and those at risk. This is because there is no link between the research and the people who are supposed to implement the research findings. These people include those at risk of getting it. These educational programs aim at partnering with community leaders to reach the people and teach them the basic knowledge on prevention and control of diabetes. Most people are at risk due to the lifestyles they are living. This involves eating unhealthy foods and not engaging in enough exercise. Engaging the community leader will ensure the success of the community-based program on prevention and control of diabetes. The community leader will be trained to promote groups to work together and to also recruit members to the program. He or she will be trained on the basics of the program and he will assist in scheduling sessions among other things.
The program will target people suffering from diabetes and also those without diabetes. These people together with the educator and community leader will create a team that main goal is to work together to improve the quality of life and health of the community members. There will be oral presentations by educators and materials for the program will be available online for printing. The program will involve the evaluation of individual lifestyle choices and recommend preventive measures. It will also provide materials and resources for learning and intervention measures.
Teaching Plan
References
Chawla, R. (2012). Ocular complications of diabetes. Complications of Diabetes, 43-43. https://doi.org/10.5005/jp/books/11685_5
US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). Evidence-based diabetes prevention and control programs and policies in local health departments. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4794985/
World Health Organization. (2021, April 13). Diabetes. WHO | World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes
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