Addressing Diabetes Management in Families: A Capstone Project Focused on Leadership, Collaboration, and Policy/j9e6z

Posted: February 13th, 2025

Addressing Diabetes Management in Families: A Capstone Project Focused on Leadership, Collaboration, and Policy

In a 5–7 page written assessment define the patient, family, or population health problem that will be the focus of your capstone project. This problem should be specific, measurable, and relevant to current healthcare challenges. Assess the problem from a leadership, collaboration, communication, change management, and policy perspective. Plan to spend approximately 2 direct practicum hours meeting with a patient, family, or group of your choice to explore the problem and, if desired, consulting with subject matter and industry experts. – FAMILY/DIABETES

Identify the patient, family, or group you want to work with during your practicum. Building a strong rapport with the chosen individual or group is essential for effective collaboration. The patient you select can be a friend or a family member. You’ll work with this patient, family, or group throughout your capstone project, focusing on a specific health care problem. Begin surveying the scholarly and professional literature to establish your evidence and research base, inform your assessment, and meet scholarly expectations for supporting evidence. This literature review will help you identify gaps in current practices and potential solutions.

Define a patient, family, or population health problem that’s relevant to your practice. Summarize the problem you’ll explore. For instance, diabetes management in families often involves addressing lifestyle changes and adherence to treatment plans. Identify the patient, family, or group you intend to work with during your practicum. Provide context, data, or information that substantiates the presence of the problem and its significance and relevance to the patient, family, or population. For example, diabetes prevalence rates and associated complications can highlight the urgency of the issue.

Explain why this problem is relevant to your practice as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse. Analyze evidence from peer-reviewed literature and professional sources that describes and guides nursing actions related to the patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined. This analysis will help you align your interventions with best practices. Note whether the authors provide supporting evidence from the literature that’s consistent with what you see in your nursing practice. Explain how you would know if the data are unreliable. Unreliable data often lacks consistency or is not supported by credible sources.

Describe what the literature says about barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practice in addressing the problem you’ve defined. Common barriers include resistance to change and limited resources. Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of nursing standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem. Such research often highlights the importance of standardized care protocols.

Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions. Nurses play a critical role in advocating for patient-centered policies. Describe what the literature says about a nursing theory or conceptual framework that might frame and guide your actions during your practicum. For example, the Health Belief Model could be used to understand patient behaviors.

Explain how state board nursing practice standards and/or organizational or governmental policies could affect the patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined. These standards often dictate the scope of nursing interventions. Describe research that has tested the effectiveness of these standards and/or policies in improving patient, family, or population outcomes for this problem. Effective policies often lead to better patient adherence and outcomes.

Describe current literature on the role of nurses in policy making to improve outcomes, prevent illness, and reduce hospital readmissions. Nurses are increasingly recognized as key stakeholders in healthcare policy. Describe the effects of local, state, and federal policies or legislation on your nursing scope of practice, within the context of this problem. For example, telehealth policies have expanded access to care for diabetic patients.

Propose leadership strategies to improve outcomes, patient-centered care, and the patient experience related to the patient, family, or population problem you’ve defined. Effective leadership fosters collaboration and innovation. Discuss research on the effectiveness of leadership strategies. Transformational leadership, for instance, has been shown to improve team performance.

Define the role that you anticipate leadership must play in addressing the problem. Leaders must advocate for resources and support evidence-based practices. Describe collaboration and communication strategies that you anticipate will be needed to address the problem. Interdisciplinary teamwork is crucial for comprehensive diabetes management.

Describe the change management strategies that you anticipate will be required to address the problem. Implementing change often requires clear communication and stakeholder engagement.

References:

American Diabetes Association. (2021). Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2021 Abridged for Primary Care Providers. Clinical Diabetes, 39(1), 14-43.

Bilberry, K., 2022. Strategies Telehealth Care Managers Can Use to Reduce Healthcare Costs for Patients with Chronic Diabetes (Doctoral dissertation, Colorado Technical University).

Institute of Medicine. (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. National Academies Press.

Powers, M. A., Bardsley, J., Cypress, M., Duker, P., Funnell, M. M., Fischl, A. H., … & Vivian, E. (2020). Diabetes self-management education and support in adults with type 2 diabetes: A consensus report of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care, 43(7), 1636-1649.

Quigley, E., 2024. Development and Evaluation of a Nurse Leader Directed Postpartum Diabetes Screening Initiative in Patients with Gestational Diabetes (Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University (Delaware)).

Wright, S.L., 2022. Diabetes Family-Inclusion Education in the Outpatient Clinic.

Sanders, C.G., 2023. Development of a Comprehensive Staff Development Program About Outpatient Diabetes Clinic Care for Patients With Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Sisson, E.M., Pamulapati, L.G., Bucheit, J.D., Zimmerman, K.M., Dixon, D.L., Holdford, D.A. and Salgado, T.M., 2024. Integrating real-world skills and diabetes lifestyle coach training into a revised health promotion and communications course. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 16(6), pp.445-452.

Smarth, J.M., 2022. Effective Management of Diabetes Mellitus Type II in a Military Treatment Facility. Walden University.

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