Education Programme of Tayside - Essay Example

?Summary I am a Diabetes Nurse appointed to deliver TDEP to patients newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This module critically evaluates the GLP1 Education Programme in Tayside to understand the functionality of Victoza/Liraglutide in detail, educate the patients beginning the treatment, propose measures to customize the education program according to the patients’ needs, and provide critical analysis of learning. Use of Exenatide in comparison of Victoza as a treatment option is negligible. My temporal role was made permanent as the Diabetes Specialist Nurses’ roles expanded. Senior nurses are playing more complex roles. I was already learning the GLP-1 (Victoza/Exenatide) Group Start Education Programme before the commencement of the work based module. To direct my own learning process, I made use of a learning contract with my mentor and the Diabetes Specialist Dietician and prepared a learning program. Diabetic patients are increasing in number which incurs a lot of healthcare cost to the government. 1.2mg of Victoza taken daily is a cost effective way to treat Type-2 Diabetes. Victoza enhances insulin secretion and reduces glucagon secretion. Patients can take Victoza when the blood glucose becomes higher as measured by the HBAIC blood test, or when they have BMI greater than or equal to 35kg/m. Diabetic patients are referred to the nurses by the diabetes consultants for treatment. The GLP-1 Victoza Group Education Program was started only two years ago but became very popular in very short time, thus imparting the need to start the treatment in group setting. The group setting increased the productivity of the DSNs. Various studies have found Victoza very effective for the treatment of Type-2 Diabetic patients. Particularly when it was taken with Metformin daily, it improved the blood sugar control in patients and helped them lose weight. Control of diabetes and patient education reduces a patient’s susceptibility to the risk of nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. All diabetic patients should receive structured education to be able to self-manage their disease. The cheapest way of educating patients is group education as more patients are educated in lesser time, thus saving the time and effort of both the nurses. Group education encourages the adoption of innovative learning approaches, and is thus recommended by payors, educators, and policy makers. I experienced slight difficulty when the teaching session commenced, but the stress wore off me as time passed. I have learnt how to educate the patients with due assistance of the specialist dietician using visual aids which made the sessions interesting for me as well as for the learners. Learners were taught how to administer Victoza. They were asked to do their first injection themselves. Knowledge of the treatment made the patients feel relieved. The patients were also taught the use of blood sugar meters and the principles of healthy eating. It was an overall good experience, though patients would have developed better concepts of treatment, had they been provided with structured education about diabetes and its treatment beforehand. In addition to the treatment education, patients also need to be made aware of the potential implications of not taking the treatment upon their health, so that they are intrinsically motivated to get the treatment. The treatment program should be supplied with adequate resources. Every treatment program should be supported with a structured curriculum. The current education programme can be accorded with the criteria established by NICE by integrating the philosophy of GLP1 (Victoza/Exenatide) Group Education Programme, curriculum, hand-outs, patient evaluation tools, periodic peer review, internal quality assurance, and improvement of patients’ diabetes control twice a year in the program. To integrate these factors into the current education programme, I have used the Tayside Diabetes Education Programme to enhance the structure of the GLP-1 Victoza Group Education Programme. I have made a hand-out for the patients, and have proposed the division of the programme into two, two hourly sessions. The treatment must emphasize upon a lifestyle change of the patient in addition to the regular testing and prevention so that objective results can be achieved. The programme also allows the patients to interact with one another and share their individualistic experiences so that more awareness can be created and patients can be intrinsically motivated to endorse an anti-diabetic lifestyle. Conclusion It was a very positive experience in general, though there were certain negative experiences as well. I found lack of structure and lack of learning objectives in the education programme. I also found the education programme void of basic principles of diabetes management. There were no hand-outs or evaluation tools to guide the patients’ self-treatment. While the education session provided the patients with an overview of the treatment and healthy eating, patients lacked formal training and education in basic diabetes principles. In order to enable the patients to optimize on their potential of self-treatment, it is imperative that their training is preceded with structured education. Trained educators should deliver the Diabetes Education Network using teaching media so that they can customize the program as per the individualistic and collective needs of the learners. It is equally important for the educators to be flexible in their approach so as to be able to benefit learners from all sorts of cultural, cognitive, and linguistic backgrounds. Although there are competent and talented educators, the present education programme lacks most of the criteria established for the education and training by NICE. There is need to improve the current diabetes training program, which requires provision of resources by the management and a concerted effort on the part of the nurses as well as the patients. Kolb’s four-stage cycle of learning demonstrates the process of translation of experience into concepts through reflection (Learning Theories, 2012). These concepts guide the active experimentation and selection of new experiences. The learner experiences an activity during the first stage of concrete experience. The activity may be based on field-work or a lab session. Reflective observation is the second stage which is the stage of reflection of the learner on the experience gained in the first stage. In the stage of abstract conceptualization, the learner conceptualizes the model of the collected information. In the stage of active experimentation, the learner plans the testing of a theory for future experience. In my case, I am currently in the second stage of learning according to the Kolb’s learning model. In the first stage, I have gained the experience of teaching the patients of Type-2 Diabetes, the diabetes self-management program. This project of report writing is essentially the second stage of reflective observation, as I am recapitulating my experiences and reflecting upon them. According to Kolb, there are four styles of learning that correspond to the various stages. These styles of learning depict optimal conditions for maximal learning. The styles include convergers, divergers, accommodators, and assimilators. Convergers enhance their potential to learn if demonstrated the concepts and theories practically. Divergers need a wide range of information to learn from. Accomodators need “hands-on” experience to learn better whereas assimilators optimize their learning potential if knowledge is demonstrated with the help of sound logical theories. My style of learning is a combination of the assimilator style and the converger style. The opportunity to practically demonstrate the diabetes treatment program to the patients has revived my own knowledge of diabetes treatment and self-management. In addition, my belief that proper training is necessarily preceded by structured education can be attributed to my assimilator style of learning. Overall, it was a very good learning experience for me. It not only provided me with practical experience of teaching which would benefit me in the long run, but also inculcated the confidence in me to diversify my skills. Compilation of the hand-outs, identification of loopholes in the system, and proposal of corrective measures are things that lend me a feeling of achievement. References: Learning Theories 2012, Experiential Learning (Kolb), viewed, 24 April 2012, . Read More