A number of strategies can be embraced to improve the quality of care, patient safety and reduce costs to the patient in the case study affected by hypertension and is pre-diabetic. One of the interventions is providing health education on the optimum management of hypertension and pre-diabetes. The patient needs education on the importance of medication adherence and the incorporation of non-pharmacological interventions into the management of his health problems (Gorina et al., 2018). The patient can also embrace the use of self-management interventions for hypertension and pre-diabetes. Self-management interventions focus on empowering the patient to take responsibility for his health. It entails the use of interventions such as daily monitoring of blood pressure, dietary modifications, and engaging in active physical exercises on a regular basis (Li et al., 2020).
Health education and self-management of hypertension and pre-diabetes have been shown to be effective in research. For example, Gorina et al., (2018) found that health education was effective in promoting lifestyle and behavioral changes in patients with chronic illnesses that included diabetes and hypertension. Li et al., (2020) found that self-management interventions for hypertension delivered via m-health were effective in reducing systolic blood and diastolic blood pressure and improvement in the self-management behaviors as well as medication adherence by the patients. The relevant and available sources of benchmark data for improving quality, cost and patient safety in hypertension management include those obtained from institutions such as WHO, CDC, and the American Diabetes Association among others.
Assessment 2
The assessment was conducted with a family member who is hypertensive and pre-diabetic. The assessment showed that the patient has experienced safety events due to hypertension. He has experienced uncontrolled blood pressure in the recent past that led to his hospitalization for symptom management. The patient reported that the frequency of visits to the emergency departments have increased over the past few months. He estimated that his visits to the emergency department have been at least two in every month for the past three months. The patient also reported to have been hospitalized once since this year started. The admission was due to uncontrolled blood pressure. The patient is currently on two anti-hypertensive medications to manage his health problem. He manages pre-diabetes using dietary modification and engaging in regular physical activity. The patient has a medical insurance cover. As a result, it pays for the medications that he uses. The patient reported that he has high level of tolerance to the medications that he currently uses. Therefore, he rarely experiences any side effects associated with the medications. The patient also reported that he visits the doctor’s office on a monthly basis for his medical checkups. The insurance however does not pay for the visits. This forces him to incur out-of-pocket payments for his regular medical checkups. The information obtained from this visit increased the need for the adoption of interventions to improve the burden of the disease to the patient.
Conclusion
Overall, hypertension and diabetes have significant adverse consequences to the patient and the healthcare system as a whole. The conditions predispose patients to complications that lower their quality of life. Patients also incur considerable costs in seeking the care that they need alongside the loss of their productivity. Therefore, best practices should be embraced to optimize the treatment of care to patients affected by hypertension and pre-diabetes.
References
Association, A. D. (2018). Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017. Diabetes Care, 41(5), 917–928. https://doi.org/10.2337/dci18-0007
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