Lorraine Fonger
South University
Illness and Disease Across Life Span
NSG4055
Dan Lane
March 3, 2018 Diabetes
How many people do you know that have been or are affected by diabetes? Probably more than you may realize. The number of people that have diabetes is growing more every year. According to the American Diabetes Association “from 2007 to 2012, the cost of diagnosed diabetes rose from $174 billion to $245 billion, an approximate 41% increase” (American Diabetes Association, 2017). Have you been tested to know where your numbers are? “Of the 29.1 million adults with diabetes, 23.1 million were diagnosed, and 7.2 million were undiagnosed.” (American Diabetes Association, 2017). Diabetes affects both young people …show more content…
Cardiovascular complications increase with diabetes including stroke, heart attack, coronary artery disease and chest pain with angina. Any of these complications can be debilitating or life threatening. Nerve damage or neuropathy, is also a complication of diabetes. Having too much sugar can cause damage to the smaller blood vessels which feed the nerves in your body. If this occurs you may experience burning, pain, numbness or worst-case scenario, if left untreated, you could lose all feeling in the extremities. The damage is not limited to just the extremities as it could affect the kidneys and the eyes with the same type of damage. Diabetes, especially uncontrolled, can cause kidney failure which leads to having dialysis, blindness, skin problems, hearing impairment and has also been linked to …show more content…
Listed will be some of the major objects and some of the goals that will relate. The first objective listed by the HealthyPeople2020 will be to reduce the number of new cases every year. With current studies in place, a national diabetes prevention plan was introduced to help prediabetic people with the knowledge, guidance and tracking abilities to monitor glucose levels and to change their diet and exercise regiments to help keep glucose levels normal. With smart phone technology, the capability of tracking one’s progress has been made easier and user friendly. Their goal was to reduce new diagnosis of diabetes by ten percent. A second objective that could be attainable was that of lowering lipid values of everybody that has been diagnosed with diabetes. This would be done by education on what the lipid panel is, what are the norms for the panel, and what value they are to reach and maintain. While there are many more objectives, most of them requiring regular checkups and evaluations of lab work, vision tests, hearing test and so forth. All of these are to make sure that the person with diabetes stays on track keeping his glucose regulated.
In order to establish a care plan for a person with diabetes, you must first find out about the patient and what he does in his/her everyday life. Before approaching the patient about this, you