State board nursing practice standards dictate how nursing care is provided and the quality of care for diabetic patients. The standards guide nurses to provide standard care to patients regardless of the healthcare setting (ADA, 2016). Consequently, nursing practice standards can positively impact the quality of diabetes care by guiding nurses in assessing and managing patients to provide the best quality care possible. Nursing practice standards also provide the minimum standards that nurses should meet when providing patient care to avoid complications and promote patient safety (ADA, 2016). Besides, they guide nurses on assessing for complications, evaluating the effectiveness of care, and providing patient education on preventing complications.
The standards guide nurses on how to provide quality care that will promote reduced complications, hospital stays and readmission rates and increase patient outcomes, thus reducing patient and hospital operational costs. Nursing standards direct nurses on the actions to take on each step of management to avoid unnecessary procedures, investigations, or treatments, thus reducing patient and operational costs (Nikitara et al., 2019). They direct the evaluation of the overall care given to patients for nurses to evaluate whether the care was cost-effective and, if not, how it can be improved to make it more efficient.
Government policies can significantly affect diabetes’ impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and individual. Policy actions can improve the availability and quality of care for diabetes and support persons to make healthier choices. According to Timpel et al. (2019), government policies can help eliminate two major health system obstacles to successful type 2 diabetes care and management: financial barriers for patients and limited access to health services and medication. Government policies can address health system factors to promote effective type 2 diabetes care and management (Timpel et al., 2019). These factors include the utilization of innovative care models, increased pharmacists’ inclusion in care delivery, and education programs facilitated by healthcare professionals.
Improving patient safety practices can support health care delivery systems and enhance health sector performance. Government policies can direct the adoption of strategies by health systems to promote quality improvement in the care of diabetic patients. According to El-Jardalim & Fadlallah (2017), government policies can introduce sets of standardized and applicable quality indicators for performance measurement and benchmark. Besides, they can direct the establishment of incentive systems that connect contractual agreements, accreditation, regulations, and performance indicators to improve patient care quality and safety (El-Jardalim & Fadlallah, 2017). Lastly, government policies can help establish a culture of continuous quality improvement in the health systems and support professional training in quality improvement and patient safety.
The cost of diabetes care, particularly medication, is a critical factor, especially for elderly patients. Government policy strategies can impact patient costs by reducing or eliminating out-of-pocket costs for diabetes medication and self-management supplies (Timpel et al., 2019). Furthermore, policies can direct more resources to diabetes preventive services since disease prevention promotes healthcare efficiency and cost-savings (Timpel et al., 2019). To the health system, government policies can reduce or eliminate taxes on diabetes medications and diagnostic supplies to make medications more affordable for patients and reduce the hospital’s operational costs.
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