DISCUSSION: PATIENT PREFERENCES AND DECISION MAKING
Post a brief description of the situation you experienced and explain how incorporating or not incorporating patient preferences and values impacted the outcome of their treatment plan. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain how including patient preferences and values might impact the trajectory of the situation and how these were reflected in the treatment plan. Finally, explain the value of the patient decision aid you selected and how it might contribute to effective decision making, both in general and in the experience you described. Describe how you might use this decision aid inventory in your professional practice or personal life.
Patient Preferences And Decision Example
Nurses provide patient care with the aim of optimizing outcomes that include safety, quality, and efficiency. Evidence-based interventions enable them to deliver care that promotes these outcomes. Nurses must also consider patient values and preferences in the care process, as they influence the effectiveness and sustainability of the adopted interventions. Therefore, this essay is a reflection of my experience with incorporating patient’s values and preferences into treatment and importance of decision aids.
Description of the Situation
I have experienced a situation that required the consideration of patient’s values and preferences. I was assigned to caring a diabetic patient that was due for discharge in a day. The care process entailed providing him health education about dietary interventions in self-management of type 2 diabetes. I asked the client to provide information about his dietary practices and influence of culture before helping him develop an effective dietary plan. I then incorporated the information he gave into the dietary plan that he needed to embrace. I ensured that the dietary plan had healthy foods that are of great significance to the patient’s culture.
Impact of Incorporating Patient’s Values and Preferences
Incorporating the client’s dietary practices and preferences into the developed treatment plan was effective. The client achieved the desired glycemic control by selecting healthy diets from his regular menu, with a consideration of his cultural values and preferences. A client’s follow-up revealed that he was consistent in embracing healthy lifestyle, hence, improved outcomes. For example, he developed a dietary journal that was followed consistently for six months leading to regulated blood glucose levels as evidenced by the absence of glycemic crises.
Impact on Trajectory
Including patient’s preferences and values in the treatment has positive impacts on the trajectory of a situation. First, it empowers patients to take responsibility for their health. Patients understand the need for embracing the recommended lifestyle and behavioral changes for optimum health outcomes. Including patient’s preferences and values also contributes to improved treatment adherence. The improvement is attributed to the alignment of the treatment interventions with the expectations of the patients. There is also the benefit of sustained improvements in disease management when patient’s values and preferences are considered in the disease management process. Accordingly, patients are highly likely to use the prescribed interventions in the long-term when treatments align with their values and preferences (Araki, 2019; Kwame & Petrucka, 2021). These benefits were evident in the developed treatment plan for the patient in this case study. There were sustained improvements in glycemic control, treatment adherence, and patient empowerment to take responsibility for his health.
Patient Decision Aid
Decision aids are important in helping patients to understand their health problems and effective management approaches. I used a patient decision aid developed by the practice site in managing the patient’s problem. The aid focuses on various topics of diabetes management that include causes, symptoms, management, and patient’s role in the process. The use of decision aids simplifies patient education and decision making. It also enhances shared decision-making and patient engagement in the management of their health problems (Karagiannis et al., 2019). I will use the organization’s decision aid when teaching patients and colleagues about effective diabetes management for optimum outcomes.
Conclusion
In summary, nurses should prioritize patient preferences and values in the nursing care process. The consideration influences the trajectory of disease management. Decision aids help in patient’s decision making and increases their engagement in disease management process. Nurses should select decision aids that align with patients’ problems and should be easy for patients to understand.
References
Araki, M. (2019). Patient Centered Care and Professional Nursing Practices. Journal of Biomedical Research and Clinical Investigation, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.31546/JBRCI.1004
Karagiannis, T., Andreadis, P., Manolopoulos, A., Malandris, K., Avgerinos, I., Karagianni, A., & Tsapas, A. (2019). Decision aids for people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: An effectiveness rapid review and meta-analysis. Diabetic Medicine: A Journal of the British Diabetic Association, 36(5), 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.13939
Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2021). A literature-based study of patient-centered care and communication in nurse-patient interactions: Barriers, facilitators, and the way forward. BMC Nursing, 20(1), 158. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00684-2