Policies and Politics - Patient Representing a Diagnosis - Essay Example

 Diabetes is the condition where insulin, which converts sugar into energy, is produced in inadequate amounts or not used properly by the body (Abood, 2007). With over 26 million Americans suffering from diabetes and new cases still being reported at 1.9 million people as of 2011, policies need to be put in place to manage the condition effectively. Further, the 2011 statistic from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that the 1.9 million new cases included people as young as 20 years of age, brought about by their lifestyles (Coveney, 2010).

Having such a high annual number of new cases with young citizens is an indication that the role of educators is not achieving effective results. This paper will address the lack of effectiveness of the educators as a policy issue, identify stakeholders, highlight nursing’s political involvement and state the writer’s position on the issue. The writer chose the case of a patient representing a diagnosis because she cared for a newly diagnosed young citizen who claimed not to have been properly informed on lifestyle choices.

The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) provides persons with diabetes and their educators a representation at the state and federal governments, supporting activities relevant to the stakeholders and public policy relating to diabetes. However, according to the policy and advocacy goals they set up years ago, their impact is not as effective as may be desired: 1.9 million new cases in one year do not reflect success. Their goals included supporting initiatives that avoid more people developing diabetes; promoting education in diabetes and the educators’ role in healthcare; campaigning for policies that promote access to self-management training; and attaining reasonable reimbursement for educators (Coveney, 2010).

If the goals and the facilitating policies were well thought out, then the nation should have realized a significant drop in the number of new cases. The policies need to be updated. The process of moving a healthcare issue through policy-making, from a bill to an enactment, links healthcare to politics. This brings together several stakeholders who impact the decision making (Reb, 2003). They include elected officials, nurses, patients and special interest groups, all with varying perspectives of the situation, which are further diversified by the interests of the political parties.

The decisions they make will determine whether more effective policies that will benefit the fight against diabetes are made or not. The politicians can vote for the allocation of more resources for recruiting, training and distributing educators, even up to junior school level. The nurses’ most significant role will be informing Congress, state legislators, professionals and stakeholders of the educators’ advocacy priorities, based on their experience with patients (Oliver & Mossialos, 2004).

The information will be used for policy analysis, which aims to get an insight of past failures as well as successes of present policies. The results of the analysis will provide the best input for policy development plans. The policy makers should consider patients’ privacy, and the nurses are well placed to give guidelines since they have dealt with patients’ whose privacy has been compromised (Krent, 2008). In conclusion, my position on the issue stems from the fact that diabetes is not only the largest, but also the most rapidly growing chronic disease in the country.

The research into treatment, diagnosis or prevention of diabetes gives raise to legal and social issues, with half the patients ending up receiving inappropriate care. This calls for more action at the awareness level rather than focusing on managing patients. I support the cause of better training and equipping educators, who in turn will reach more people and create an awareness that will change lifestyles. ReferencesAbood, S. (2007). Influencing health care in the legislative arena. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12(1), 5.

Coveney, J. (2010). Analyzing public health policy: Three approaches. Health Promotion Practice, 11(4), 515-521.Krent, H. (2008). Whose business is your pancreas? Potential privacy problems in New York City's mandatory diabetes registry. Annals of Health Law 17(1), 76-78.Oliver, A., & Mossialos, E. (2004). Equity of access to health care: Outlining the foundations for action. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58(8), 655-658.Reb, A. M. (2003). Palliative and end-of-life care: Policy analysis.

Oncology Nursing Forum, 30(1), 35-50.