My capstone project involves a change process in my hospital regarding improving the training of patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) by nurses. The success of this project relies inter alia on the patients having the ability to follow the instructions of the nurses after they have left the hospital. The management of DM is a complicated process hence the ability of the patients to manage it on their own may require assistance from technology, a good example being sensor glucometers for diabetic patients.
Sensor Glucometers
Sensor glucometers are specialized information technology-based device that enable DM patients to test their blood sugar level without having to prick their skins. Based on my research, many of the minority patients being attended to in my hospital are not proficient with healthcare technology but they know how to handle phones. Sensor glucometers provide a bridge between the complex technology necessary to measure blood sugar on a regular basis and mobile phones making it possible, even easy for patients to do it for themselves (Tian, Prestgard, & Tiwari, 2014). If patients being treated in my hospital are able to test blood sugar at home, it will ease the workload in the hospital and also reduce the level of readmission.
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Availability
Unfortunately, my hospital does not have sensor glucometers to give to patients yet the patients I am focusing on are poor, hence unable to buy them on their own. Further, the kinds of insurance available for the patients do not cover such gadgets. However, it is my informed believe that the hospital can convince insurance companies to cover the glucometers. As with any business, insurance companies are looking to cut costs including through technology (Kim et al., 2016). Available research shows that the ability to control blood sugar at home exponentially reduces chances of readmission hence reducing the overall costs of the patient (Golden et al., 2017). I will thus recommend to the hospital to use the argument above to get insurance companies to cover sensor glucometers.
Conclusion
For my project to succeed, many different components must work together harmoniously. Technology is an important component including sensor glucometers that will assist patients in checking blood sugar while at home. However, as reflected above, to get sensor glucometers I need to get the hospital to convince insurance companies to cover the technology.
References
Golden, S. H., Maruthur, N., Mathioudakis, N., Spanakis, E., Rubin, D., Zilbermint, M., & Hill-Briggs, F. (2017). The case for diabetes population health improvement: evidence-based programming for population outcomes in diabetes. Current Diabetes Reports , 17 (7), 51. doi: 10.1007/s11892-017-0875-2
Kim, R. H., Gaukler, G. M., & Lee, C. W. (2016). Improving healthcare quality: A technological and managerial innovation perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change , 113 , 373-378
Tian, K., Prestgard, M., & Tiwari, A. (2014). A review of recent advances in nonenzymatic glucose sensors. Materials Science and Engineering: C , 41 , 100-118
