Foster Care Community

Introduction

            Referring patients to community services is crucial for optimum continuity of car, but the referrals between hospital and community sectors are challenging to utilize (Edwards, Davies, Ploeg, Virani & Skelly, 2007). As such, it is necessary that nurses have a thorough understanding of the patient referral resources and interventions. A community provider may not be fully effective in servicing a person or a family in need.

 It is imperative for a health care professional to understand how and when to refer and what resources and interventions are available for clients. The essay focuses on two referral programs on diabetes as discussed under various categories.   

Part 1

Audit two programs which coordinate referrals to resources and interventions in the community. Provide a conceptual overview of these two programs.

            The selected programs assist in addressing the problems associated with diabetes. The major purpose of the programs is to sensitize people on the best practices of managing diabetes through lifestyle choices. The programs are offered by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and Tivity health with a slogan of “live healthy. Live long.”

            The first program is the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) which operates under the sponsorship of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program focuses on providing helpful resources to pregnant women at risk of getting diabetes. Such patients may develop gestational diabetes which may disappear when the baby is born. However, there are high chances of getting diabetes later in life, hence necessary to monitor and refer the patients to seek services from helpful programs (NIH, 2016).

            The second program is trivity health that seeks to engage people and communities in a shared mission of improving health outcomes and reducing the health costs. The program is designed to empower members of all ages and stages of life for them to enjoy enhanced physical activity and productivity. There are various programs offered that include Silver Sneakers, Prime Fitness, and Whole Health Living. The focus of the discussion lies on Silver Sneakers that empowers the aging population to remain active (Tivity Health, 2017).    

  Part 2

Provide a synthesis of the following: the at-risk population, the resources utilized, and how the chosen referral program assisted in accessing the resources by the at-risk population noted.

            The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) for the pregnant women provides important resources on getting tested, changing foods, being more active, and engaging the whole family in the interventions. The population at risk of gestational diabetes comprises of the pregnant women who may or not have a history of diabetes in their family history. In some cases, the condition is genetically motivated, but in others, it occurs out of other complex reasons. The health-care professional ought to identify the likely cause of the condition before referring a patient to a community program. The program utilizes various resources to assist the pregnant women in controlling the diabetic condition after diagnosis. The resources provided are designed to support lifestyle change thereby enhancing the health outcomes of the patients. The resources used in the program are obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The resources have the information on the guidelines of getting tested for diabetes, type of foods to take, physical exercises to adopt, and the steps taken for the whole family to get involved (NIH, 2016). 

            The selected referral program was essential in assessing the resources for the at-risk population comprising of pregnant women. The program has a fully functional information center where patients can make calls, send emails, and also visit the office. The utilization of the information center details makes it easy to access the needed resources without delays. The use of phone conversations and email correspondence are effective methods of requesting for the necessary resources. A snippet of the resources shows that patients ought to be tested for diabetes 6 to 12 weeks after the baby is born. For normal results, the patient should be tested every three years, but those with high blood sugar, prediabetes, should have annual checkups.       

Part 3

Provide a synthesis of the following: the at-risk population, the interventions utilized, and how the chosen referral program assisted in accessing necessary interventions.

            Silver Sneakers program is provided by tivity health to aid the seniors in adopting fitness solutions. It empowers active aging but is also appropriate for other people desiring to lead a healthy life through physical exercises. Silver Sneakers is an appropriate referral program that provides community fitness interventions to promote greater health engagement and accountability by performing regular exercise. The program is suitable for people diagnosed with diabetes who desire to have a lifestyle change by having regular physical exercises as advised by the care provider. Aged people are at increased risk of developing a myriad of health problems, hence necessary to adopt healthy lifestyle choices. Similar recommendations are given to diabetic patients since adopting healthy lifestyle choices helps to control the imbalanced sugar levels (Tivity Health, 2017).    

            The fitness program is provided at no cost, and the classes are designed for all abilities comprising of millions of members. The eligible participants get cards that are used to access the fitness centers located strategically in the community. Members have unrestricted access and unlimited visits to every location of the centers. The facilities have weights, treadmills, pools, and other social amenities. The intervention program also involves fitness classes offered by certified instructors. The members take classes that are right for them from low impact to high intensity and gym classes designed for each level. The intervention includes strength training, aerobics, and flexibility activities that help to keep the body fit. Health and vitality programs continue to be common and more essential to ensure that people are active members of the community and the world by keeping fit. The referred diabetic patients to the fitness centers get the necessary assistance on being physically active in addition to diet change and regular checkups.

            The referral program was appropriate in accessing the necessary interventions as evident in its range of services and fitness centers. The program offers several programs designed to keep the members physically fit and has more than 13,000 locations nationwide (Tivity Health, 2017). Hence, it is easy to find a find a fitness center in the community setup. The fitness centers are accessed free that motivates people to join and take part in the attempts of promoting their health outcomes. The provision of facilities and certified instructors in all the centers ensures that the participants achieve their goals in health promotion.

Conclusion

            Nurses are in a better position to inform patients about referral resources to the patients who require additional interventions for their health. They ought to be aware of the available referral programs for as well as the available resources before making recommendations to their patients. The selected referral programs are essential in promoting better health outcomes for diabetic patients as discussed.

References

Edwards, N., Davies, B., Ploeg, J., Virani, T., & Skelly, J. (2007). Implementing nursing best practice guidelines: Impact on patient referrals: BMC Nursing, 6, 4.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH) (2016) Health information on National Diabetes Education Program.

Tivity Health (2017) Silver Sneakers Fitness Program: Empowering active aging. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing essay help USA if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom college papers.