Healthcare Technology Care Coordination And Community Resources Utilization

Healthcare Technology Care Coordination and Community Resources Utilization

Type 2 diabetes is one of the significantly costly diseases to manage and treat. One of every four dollars used on healthcare expenses is used for treating and managing type 2 diabetes and its complications. Since the African American population is one of the underserved minority populations in the US where the condition has a high prevalence, it is integral to identify the healthcare technology that can be used to address this issue. Holistic care coordination and community resource utilization are also required to achieve positive patient outcomes in this population.

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of healthcare technology on the African American population with type 2 diabetes, how care coordination and utilization of community resources can be used to address the issue in this population, and the state board of nursing practice standards with regards to health technology, care coordination and community resources in detail.

The Impact of Healthcare Technology on African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes

Healthcare technology considerably improves care delivery and patient outcomes in various health populations and the treatment of various conditions. In the recent past, healthcare technology has been applied in the treatment of diabetes, mainly type 1 diabetes.

However, 90% of the total diabetes cases are type 2 diabetes cases, indicating a need for healthcare technologies to be used by type 2 diabetes patients. Studies show that most healthcare technology available is for type 1 diabetes, whereas the need is more for type 2 diabetes treatment (Daly and Hovorka, 2021).

These diabetes technologies include dosing advisors, insulin pumps, automated insulin delivery systems, and continuous glucose monitoring systems. The technologies have significantly impacted the treatment of diabetes, especially in therapies involving insulin.

The African American population with type 2 diabetes would highly benefit from the application of these healthcare technologies. According to Su et al. (2019), the specific technology that would benefit this population most is telehealth for easier remote access to diabetes care.

Telehealth remote monitoring technology would serve African Americans best since most do not easily access healthcare institutions. The technology would save time and enable more accessible access to type 2 diabetes care for many African Americans. However, using this technology in the African American population would have some drawbacks.

First, African Americans will need telehealth devices such as tablets, laptops, or computers and have a consistent internet connection. Also, type 2 diabetes patients will have to be trained on the effective use of the technology, which will require time and money. Additionally, the patients will be required to have type 2 diabetes monitoring gadgets such as the continuous glucose monitoring device, which are expensive.

The current technology used in the professional practice of type 2 diabetes management includes applying continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems. Healthcare professionals and caregivers have continuously used CgM systems to collect glucose concentration data for review and analysis.

Analysis of CGM data enables the caregiver to track glycemic variability, identify unappreciated glucose patterns, and adjust therapy regimens for the patient (Cappon et al., 2019). The associated initial and maintenance costs are a significant potential barrier to using this technology.

Care Coordination and the Utilization of Community Resources

Care coordination is the deliberate organization of patient activities and distribution of relevant information among all the healthcare providers participating in patient care to enhance patient safety and more effective care delivery. Care coordination helps ensure that the patients’ needs and preferences are considered when delivering care. It enhances the achievement of optimal health, wellness, and a desirable patient outcome with regard to the patients’ preferences.

Care coordination involves addressing potential gaps regarding meeting patients’ medical, social, educational, developmental, behavioral, and financial needs. Care coordination among the interprofessional team members is integral for treating and managing type 2 diabetes among the African American population. The interprofessional team required to address the type 2 diabetes crisis among the African American health population includes social workers, nurses, physicians, endocrinologists, and community health workers.

Members of the interprofessional team are responsible for referring the patient to other healthcare professionals such as cardiologists. The primary care providers and the nurses will encourage diabetic African Americans to cease smoking and avoid alcohol. The community health workers will promote the population’s health and encourage the patients to eat healthily, lose weight, and exercise regularly (Goyal and Jialal, 2018).

Community resources play an innovative tool in addressing the problem of type 2 diabetes among the African American population. Some community resources that address this issue include community diabetes groups, diabetes education programs, and community centers.

Community health workers can work in these community resources to bring together the African American population and educate them on type 2 diabetes, prevention, treatment, and management, as well as the complications that would lead to permanent hospitalization. The fact that type 2 diabetes is preventable validates the utilization of these community resources to emphasize its prevention. African Americans can also learn about healthy living from these community programs, including healthy dieting and the importance of exercise.

The interprofessional team is also currently using community resources to treat and manage type 2 diabetes. According to Stupplebeen et al. (2019), the care providers work with the help of community health workers to promote health by providing physical activities such as fitness classes. The major potential barrier to utilizing community resources is the high cost of running them.

Community resources such as community diabetes education programs require specialists and costly education materials. The community resources require grants and funding from organizations and other well-wishers, which is a significant challenge.

State Board Nursing Practice Standards and Organizational/ Governmental Policies Related to Technology, Care Coordination, and Community Resources used in Type 2 Diabetes.

All healthcare delivery services and programs must comply with state, local, and federal policies and regulations. The state board of nursing practice standards regulates healthcare technology, care coordination, and the community resources used to treat various conditions across all health populations.

The state board of nursing practice act is the first regulation of consideration in the treatment of type 2 diabetes among African Americans. The state board of nursing regulates the scope of practice under which the nurses should exercise their nursing practice within a particular state. For instance, the nurses taking care of type 2 diabetes patients should not prescribe specific diabetes medication if the state board of nursing in the state does not allow nurses to prescribe medication.

Healthcare technology to address the type 2 diabetes crisis among the African American health population will comply with HIPAA guidelines. The HIPAA act ensures that the healthcare technology used maintains high patient safety standards and protects the patient against the dangers that would arise with the use of technology in health services provision.

Under the national information technology initiative, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHQR) stipulated effective healthcare technology use, especially electronic health records. These acts, regulations, and federal agencies helped shape and produce effective strategies to manage and treat type 2 diabetes among African Americans.

In care coordination, the interprofessional team will ensure they consider and maintain high ethical and professional practice standards to ensure that patient safety is maintained and positive health outcomes are realized. The interprofessional team will also ensure that the diabetic patients’ privacy is maintained. Patient information will only be shared with the patients’ consent and only be shared with the relevant professionals. Patient confidentiality, among other ethical standards, will also be maintained.

The government lays out guidelines for the running of community resources. Community diabetes education programs, for instance, must meet ethical and legal standards. The education programs should ensure that the education provided is in line with the diabetes management guidelines and is provided by the relevant experts (Owolabi et al., 2018).

Conclusion

With the increasing intensity of the African American population’s type 2 diabetes crisis, there is a need to identify the technology that can be used effectively in addressing the issue. Care coordination among the interprofessional team is also integral in achieving positive patient outcomes for type 2 diabetes patients in this population. The utilization of available community resources will also help in easier health promotion in this population. All these interventions should be carried out in line with the standards and regulations discussed above.

Healthcare Technology Care Coordination and Community Resources Utilization References

Cappon, G., Vettoretti, M., Sparacino, G., Facchinetti, A. & Committee of Clinical Practice Guidelines, Korean Diabetes Association. (2019). 2019 Clinical practice guidelines for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Korea. Diabetes & Metabolism Journal, 43(4), 398-406. https://doi.org/10.4093/dmj.2019.0121
Daly, A., & Hovorka, R. (2021). Technology in the management of type 2 diabetes: Present status and future prospects. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 23(8), 1722-1732. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14418
Goyal, R., & Jialal, I. (2018). Diabetes mellitus type 2. https://europepmc.org/article/nbk/nbk513253
Owolabi, M. O., Yaria, J. O., Daivadanam, M., Makanjuola, A. I., Parker, G., Oldenburg, B. & COUNCIL Initiative. (2018). Gaps in guidelines for the management of diabetes in low-and middle-income versus high-income countries—a systematic review. Diabetes Care, 41(5), 1097-1105. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc17-1795
Stupplebeen, D. A., Sentell, T. L., Pirkle, C. M., Juan, B., Barnett-Sherrill, A. T., Humphry, J. W., Kiernan, J., Yoshimura, S. R., Hartz, C. P. & Keliikoa, L. B. (2019). Community health workers in action: Community-clinical linkages for diabetes prevention and hypertension management at 3 community health centers. Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 78(6 Suppl 1), 15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6603891/
Su, D., Michaud, T. L., Estabrooks, P., Schwab, R. J., Eiland, L. A., Hansen, G., Devany, M., Zhang, D., Li, Y., Pagan, J. A. & Siahpush, M. (2019). Diabetes management through remote patient monitoring: the importance of patient activation and engagement with the technology. Telemedicine and e-Health, 25(10), 952-959. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2018.0205