Diabetes Management: "The Home Care Model"

Diabetes Management: "The Home Care Model"

by Eleanor Grampa, RN.

Administrator, Interim HealthCare of Cooper City

Health care is the "hot topic" in the news, and home care is playing a major role. Patients are spending less time in the acute care setting and are being discharged home requiring intense teaching and care by a licensed professional. The purpose of the Diabetes Management Program is to provide support, education, and professional health care assistance/service to persons with diabetes and their families/caregivers, thereby allowing the person with diabetes to become independent with all aspects of diabetes self-care and live a more productive life.

The skilled nursing role is to encourage independent patient functioning at the highest level possible to teaching effective self-management of diabetes health care needs. Diabetes management components include:

Disease process--physiology and pathophysiology
Disease treatment--exercise, diet, medication, monitoring glucose levels
Disease complications--hyper/hypoglycemia, emergency treatment, long-term complications (cardiovascular, nephrologic, neurologic, ophthalmic, infection potential)
Special care needs--foot. skin, dental, eye, illness, care and travel considerations.

It has been proven that patients respond to care rendered in the home environment, and outcome reports show that established goals can be met within designated time points We must look at innovative methods of delivering state-of-the-art- care and education to our patient population in an efficient and cost effective manner. Home health care is that alternative.