Delivering Person-Centered Care: Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

This essay explores the critical role of nurses in delivering interprofessional, person-centered care to adult patients with type 2 diabetes. It begins by outlining the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes, including impaired insulin secretion and increased insulin resistance, and then details how the signs and symptoms of the disease affect adults, such as retinopathy, kidney damage, nerve damage, and poor circulation. The essay emphasizes the importance of nurses in engaging patients in decision-making, promoting self-management, and ensuring access to coordinated care and digital health technologies. It also highlights the need for nurses to consider patients' beliefs, preferences, and support systems to improve diabetes management. The essay concludes with recommendations for therapeutic education, promoting healthy lifestyles, and encouraging physical activity to enhance patient well-being and prevent complications.

Running Head: PERSONAL-CENTERED CARE 1
Personal-centered care
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Introduction
Chronic illnesses are a threat to the wellbeing of individuals. It is essential for nurses and
other health practitioners to manage chronic diseases such as type two diabetes to prevent more
deaths. Nurses play an indispensable role in providing care for adult patients with diabetes type
2. Chronic diseases have been identified as the leading cause of death in the world. Type 2
diabetes causes both long terms and short-term effects. Early treatment and management will
promote the well-being of the community. Chronic conditions are related to economic costs
encompassing social and community values hence lasting effects reduction in quality of life and
lost opportunities. Person-centered care is essential since it helps the individuals to manage
themselves in regards to the diseases to improve the quality of life. It is important to note that
person-centered care provides a human face to the continuum of care including disease
prevention, treatment, care, and support services in regards to the needs and voices of
individuals. From a nursing perspective, there is a focus on the patient in a compassionate way
(Gluyas, n.d ). Recommendations need to be put in place to enhance nursing practice through
patient care.
Type 2 diabetes is a growing health issue yet it is a condition that is managed in primary
care by practice nurses. More resources are required to carry out the nursing responsibility for
individuals with type 2 diabetes. Nurses must encourage them to take their medications so that
the blood glucose level can be controlled. Adults with diabetes type 2 require critical care to
ensure their safety. Nurses ensure that the needs of the patient by listening and creating a
dialogue with a view of establishing a relationship in which the person is the principal partner
(Tourigny, 2016). This enhances the service efficiency and the effectiveness of the results.

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Pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes
Diabetes is a life-long sickness that affects the way the body handles glucose. It is
characterized by a chronic hyperglycemic condition that results from insulin’s insufficient
actions. The primary pathophysiological characteristics of type 2 diabetes are impaired insulin
and increased insulin resistance. The reduced insulin secretion is a decrease in glucose
responsiveness that is observed before the onset of the disease clinically (Sankar, Veeramani,
Balasubramanian, Sivakumar & Kumar, 2017). The impaired insulin secretion is developmental,
and its progress encompasses glucose toxicity and lipo-toxicity. If untreated, they cause a
reduction in pancreatic B over time. The progression of the impairment of pancreatic B cell
function increasingly affects the long-term control of blood glucose. Sufferers at the early stages
after the sickness onset clearly shows an increase in postprandial blood glucose as an outcome of
increased insulin resistance and decreased initial phase secretion, the progression of the
deterioration of pancreatic B cell function subsequently causes permanent elevation of blood
glucose (Ferrannini& DeFronzo, 2015).
Insulin resistance is a condition where the insulin in the body does not exert adequate
action proportional to its blood concentration. The impairment of insulin action in vital target
organs like liver and muscles is a common pathophysiological characteristic of type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance is developed and expands before disease onset. The research into molecular
mechanism for insulin action has clarified how the strength of the insulin is associated with
generic elements and environmental elements. Genetic factors that are known include not only
insulin receptor, and insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 gene polymorphism that affects the
insulin signals directly but also polymorphisms of thrifty genes like the uncoupling protein

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(UCP) gene related to obesity and promotes insulin resistance. Gluocolipo-toxicity and
inflammatory mediators are also essential as the mechanisms for impaired insulin secretion and
insulin signal impairment ( Yki-Järvinen et al., 2014).
There is immediate attention that has put the focus on the involvement of adipocyte
bioactive substances in insulin resistance. While leptin, resistin and free fatty acids act to add
strength, adiponectin enhances resistance. Clinical tests to evaluate the insulin extent resistance
encompasses homeostasis model assessment for the resistance of insulin (HOMA-IR), insulin
sensitivity test (loading test), steady-state plasma glucose(SSPG), minimal model analysis and
insulin clamp technique.
How signs and symptoms affect adults
Adults living with type 2 diabetes are more vulnerable to different types of both long and
short-term complications that may lead to premature deaths. Many people who have diabetes
type 2 are mostly obese or overweight with central visceral adiposity. Thus the adipose tissue
plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. Many complications are caused by
type 2 diabetes encompasses retinopathy (Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Guide: Causes, Symptoms
and Treatment Options. (n.d). This means that people with diabetes mellitus have eye
abnormalities in the eyes associated with diabetes development. Individuals who had no eye
issues previously associated with the disease can develop eye problems over more time and time.
Therefore it is vital for individuals to control sugars and blood pressure and cholesterol to
prevent the development of eye infection (Harding, Shaw, Peeters, Cartensen, & Magliano,
2015).

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Another complication is the damage to the kidney. There is an increased risk of kidney
disease which means that the longer the individual has diabetes, the more the risk increases. This
kind of complication has carried the critical threat of illnesses like heart conditions and kidney
failure and urinary tract infections. There can be increased urination, and the drinking of the
fluids can be absent or mild (Endocrinology, 2014).
There is also poor circulation of blood and nerve damage. This is caused by the damaged
nerves and hardened arteries that leads to reduced sensation and poor blood circulation in the
feet. This may lead to increased infection and the risk of ulcers which heal inappropriately and in
turn raises the risk of amputation significantly. The damage to the nerves can also lead to
digestive issues like vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. Diabetic neuropathy mostly damages the
nerves in legs and feet. The neuropathy can range from pain and numbness depending on the
affected nerves. To some people, a person with diabetes can be painful and disabling. A person
can have more than one type of neuropathy. The first one is peripheral neuropathy that affects
the legs and feet first followed by the hands and the arms. Its signs and symptoms include
numbness, burning sensation, increased sensitivity to touch and severe foot issues (Kahn, Cooper
& Del Prato, 2014). The second type of neuropathy is autonomic neuropathy that affects the
heart, bladder, intestine, stomach, sex organs and eye nerves. It causes hypoglycemia
unawareness which means lack of awareness that sugar blood levels are low, bladder issues,
constipation, slow stomach emptying, painful swallowing, increased heart rate at rest and matters
controlling blood temperature. The third type of neuropathy is radiculoplexus neuropathy that
affects the nerves in the thighs, buttocks, legs, and hips. The symptoms are severe pain in a bone
or thigh or buttock that happens in a day or more, Weak and shrunk thigh muscles, difficulty
getting up from a sitting position, abdominal swelling and loss of weight.

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The last one is mononeuropathy commonly on old adults which refers to damage to a
particular nerve in the face, middle of the body or leg. The symptoms always go away without
treatment over a few months. It causes nerve problems in the eyes and in the face that leads to
double vision, difficulty focusing, aching behind one eye and paralysis on one side of the face (
Nauck, & Meier, 2016).
The role of the nurse in delivering interprofessional personal centered care
Individuals with chronic conditions like diabetes type 2 must not manage their health in
isolation. Nurses must always help the victims to engage in decision making where possible
actively. These conditions have a scope of impacts on social, economic and emotional effects.
Effectively engaging the individuals in the management of type 2 diabetes empowers them to
enhance their knowledge in regards to their condition. It also helps them to involve the
caregivers and their families in planning care appropriately. (Acheson, 2012). Decisions and
behaviors are needed to enhance health and wellbeing on a daily basis by individuals themselves.
Nurses help individuals to make informed choices and build confidence and understanding that
enables action to maximize their results in regards to their health and maintain optimal quality of
life at any stage of their illness.
Moreover, nurses ensure that individuals with complex care are supported to navigate and
access coordinated care in multiple health contexts and services. They also help in discharging
and referring pathways that are in existence between healthcare services. Additionally, they offer
a support system and communication about advance care plans, especially during care
transitions.

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Inaccessible health care services can have adverse effects on the continuity of care.
There can be limited access to health care caused by physical and economic barriers as well as
cultural elements like lack of knowledge regarding diabetes type 2. Nurses ensure the patients to
have an adequate distribution of services and workforce that will enable them to receive
appropriate treatment (Grassi, 2015). Digital technology can also have a positive effect in
promoting the quality of life. Nurses help in using technological tools that create opportunities
that improve health regarding type 2 diabetes. These encompass the use of non-face to face
where they clinically operate using a phone to give advice, video referencing or other digital
health platforms. If they are used appropriately, it can enhance communication between the
patient and the nurse and collaboration across health settings and services. This ensures that the
patients have equitable access to quality healthcare (Perkin, 2011).
Nurses share information regarding type 2 diabetes which helps in continuous quality
improvement procedures individually and ensures that the patients are monitored and evaluated
about the health performance. This enhances the patient's safety because the information shared
and creates an intense focus that will ensure better health outcomes. A universal health record is
also used by the nurses to share various issues in regards to diabetes type 2.
Recommendations
Nurses should realize that diabetes self-care relies on a sufferer's beliefs in regards to
health or the perceptions of the illness, self-efficacy, wishes, and preferences, coping proactively,
support from the family, financial resources and daily events. They should work as a team to
ensure that they consider all these points to ensure that there are proper diabetes management

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and decision making. This will enable them to improve the effectiveness of the care provided.
Working as a team will allow them to help as many patients as they can to manage the disease
accordingly.
Nurses should also offer therapeutic education to patients in regards to chronic illnesses
such as diabetes. Therapeutic training helps the patients to manage themselves appropriately in
regards to diabetes mellitus. Patients with these diseases can participate in self-management
actively ( Semenkovich, Brown, Svrakic & Lustman, 2015). Therapeutic education encompasses
a set of educational activities that are vital for the management of chronic illnesses. Through this,
the patients can learn more about the dangers of chronic diseases. They should also promote and
evaluation of a healthy lifestyle that focuses on prevention and early treatment of overweight and
obesity in adults.
Nurses should also encourage the patients to make healthy meals and engage themselves
in physical activities to enhance their health. It is essential for the sufferers to watch what they
eat and have access to healthy foods. Nurses must be able to assess the patients regularly to
promote a healthy lifestyle. The amount of fats taken must be reduced to prevent obesity and
weight gain. Physical activity is essential to prevent diabetes mellitus. An active lifestyle that
involves the physical activity of at least one hour a day and vigorous exercise that is needed to
decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Physical health is essential since it promotes the
well-being of an individual. Besides, it prevents chronic diseases like diabetes (Colberg et al.,
2016).
Furthermore, early identification of subjects at risk of developing type 2 diabetes is
needed. The must be legislative action to promote a healthy lifestyle for all patients and
individuals. The government must ensure that the social, health, nutritional economic and

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welfare arenas should move forward on an integrated approach to the prevention of the disease.
This will help in creating awareness about diabetes type two hence promoting a healthy lifestyle.
In conclusion, patient care makes sure that the patient is in the centre of health provision
and nurses play a critical role in preventing diabetes mellitus since chronic illnesses have been
known to be number one cause of death globally. The nurses provide compassionate care to the
patients. Proper recommendations must be put in place to prevent further damage caused by type
2 diabetes. Therapeutic education helps the patients to understand more information about
chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

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