Minorities between the Ages 65-74 Using Smart Phone Medication Reminders to Lower their A1C Levels in a 3-Month Period

Minorities between the Ages 65-74 Using Smart Phone Medication Reminders to Lower their A1C Levels in a 3-Month Period
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Minorities between the Ages of 65-74 Using Smart Phone Medication Reminders to Lower their A1C Levels in a 3-Month Period
The chosen CSP is elderly minorities in the United States aged 65 to 74 years using smart phone medication reminders in order to lower their levels of blood glucose (A1C) within a period of three months. Health disparities in diabetes and co-morbidities and complications exist all over the world. The prevalence of diabetes is generally higher among ethnic minorities compared to non-minority people. Elderly Hispanic Americans and elderly non-Hispanic blacks have a higher prevalence than elderly whites. All minorities, with the exception of Alaska Natives, have a diabetes type 2 prevalence rate of 2 – 6 times higher than that of the whites (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2016). For people with diabetes, A1C measures the level of average blood glucose over the past three to four months. For people who have diabetes, it is recommended that they should strive for an A1C level of seven percent or less. Smart phone apps such as medication reminders can be used to help the elderly minorities lower their blood glucose levels. This paper describes how the first 8 AACN (2006) DNP Essentials apply to my project and my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN.
Essential 1: Scientific Underpinning for Practice
This essential is applicable to my project as it will allow me to use science-based concepts and theories in evaluating and enhancing the delivery of healthcare to the elderly minorities with diabetes who have a high level of blood glucose. Comprehensive understanding of nursing theory will provide a strong basis for advanced nursing practice in helping the patients lower their A1C levels. All in all, addressing the issue of high levels of blood sugar among the elderly ethnic minorities calls for a strong scientific foundation for practice.
Essential I is applicable to my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN since upon my graduation, I would be able to quickly and effectively translate the broad range of knowledge derived from the sciences to benefit consumers in the everyday demand of nursing practice environments. I would be able to create and assess new practice approaches basing upon theories of nursing as well as theories from other disciplines. Additionally, I would be able to utilize science-based concepts and theories in determining the significance as well as the nature of health and healthcare delivery phenomena. I would use the concepts/theories in describing relevant strategies and actions for enhancing, alleviating, and ameliorating health and healthcare delivery phenomena as apt; and assess the outcomes (Price, Buch & Hagerty, 2015).
Essential 2: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2006), this essential gives emphasis to the DNP graduate’s role in assimilating nursing science and practice with the intricate needs of people. It applies to my project by enabling me to use crucial skills such as the development of clinical practice guidelines, designing evidence-based interventions for the elderly minorities aged 65-74 years to help them lower their A1C levels, and assessing the practice outcomes. I would also develop and assess care delivery approaches which satisfy both the future and present needs of elderly minorities with diabetes type 2 basing upon scientific results in nursing science, in addition to economic, political and organizational sciences.
Essential II is applicable to my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN because my future practice would not just include direct care of the patient, but it would as well focus on the needs of the broader community, a set of populations, a target population, or a panel of patients. I would be able to conceptualize new models of care delivery, which are founded upon contemporary nursing science and viable within current economic, cultural, political, as well as organizational perspectives. I will possess the skills that I need to work within policy and organizational arenas, as well as in the delivery of care to patients by myself and other professionals. Furthermore, I would have the capability of assessing the effect of practice procedures and policies on satisfying patients’ health needs. Equally important, in my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN, I would be able to evaluate risk and work together with other healthcare professionals in managing risk ethically, basing upon professional standards.
Essential 3: Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)
Essential III is applicable to my project in that I would be able to apply knowledge in solving a clinical problem in my practice through the scholarship of application. Specifically, the problem is the high levels of blood glucose among minorities aged 65-74 years, which would be solved by providing this patient group with a smart phone medication reminder app so that they can always take their medicines on time everyday to help lower their A1C levels. It is of note that this application entails translating research into practice as well as disseminating and integrating new knowledge (AACN, 2006). The new knowledge in this case is the use of smart phone medication reminders to help the elderly minority diabetics lower their blood sugar levels.
This DNP Essential is applicable to my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN in that following my graduation, I would be able to use analytic techniques to evaluate extant literature and other evidence for the purpose of identifying and applying the most appropriate evidence for nursing practice (Price, Buch & Hagerty, 2015). Furthermore, I would be able to apply pertinent findings in developing practice guidelines and improving both the practice and the practice environment. Equally important, this DNP Essential applies to my future practice as I would be able to use the knowledge and skills obtained from the DNP program in designing, directing and evaluating quality improvement methodologies with the aim of promoting patient-centred, equitable, timely, efficient, effective and safe care. I would also disseminate the findings from EBP and research for the purpose of bettering healthcare outcomes. I would generate evidence through my practice for guiding improvements not just in practice, but also in outcomes of care.
Essential 4: Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care
DNP Essential IV states that DNP graduates have the capability of utilizing information systems/technology in supporting and improving healthcare systems and patient care, in addition to providing leadership within academic settings and/or healthcare systems (AACN, 2006). This Essential is applicable to my project given that my project effectively uses a smart phone app, namely a medication reminder, for the purpose of lowering the level of blood sugar of elderly minorities aged 65 to 74 years. The smart phone app is a crucial technology in supporting and improving patient care for this population. In essence, in my project, I have placed technology at the center of patient-centred, efficient and safe care. Through my deep understanding of technology, I was able to select the most appropriate technology that can help the elderly people from minority communities to always take their diabetes drugs on time and keep their levels of A1C at 7% or less.
This DNP Essential is applicable to my future practice as a DNP-prepared APRN because in my future practice following my graduation, I would be capable of designing, selecting, and using information technology/systems in evaluating programs of care, care systems, and outcomes of care. I would also be able to examine and communicate crucial aspects that are crucial to the selection, utilization, and assessment of patient care technology and healthcare information systems. Furthermore, Essential IV is applicable to my future practice as I would be able to offer leadership in evaluating and resolving legal and ethical matters in healthcare settings that pertain to the utilization of communication networks, information, patient car...