...Nurses Addressing the Obesity Epidemic Joanne Bertrand The Center for Allied Health Nursing Education Abstract The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the United States and globally. Obesity has been linked as a precursor to many diseases and conditions. It has been recognized as a risk factor to many chronic diseases and premature death. Children, especially ethnic minorities and low income populations are more at risk for obesity and its co-morbidities. Some contributors to obesity are physical and social environments that promote foods high in fat and calories. Coincidently, promote environments with little or no physical activities. Even with these environments that contribute to bad nutrition and sedentary lifestyles, society still view obesity is as a personal responsibility. Nurses addressing the obesity epidemic require a shift from the norm of blaming individuals for the lack of will power to control their eating and physical activity but toward a healthy environment as a primary determinant. This paper addresses the obesity crisis from individual, family, local community and public policy perspectives and the nurses’ role to promote change, advocate for policy initiatives, and help reverse the obesity epidemic. This paper also addresses the nurse’s role in anticipating obesity related issues, such as, skin, pulmonary, intravenous access, and mobility. Challenges are considered and interventions to address these issues are presented. Nurses Addressing...
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...Counseling in Obese Adult Patients by Nurse Practitioners in the Primary Care Setting NaliniAnumula, Andrew Lebson, Katherine Wiggins Instructor: Dr. Colleen Carmody NURP 507 Simmons School of Nursing and Health Sciences Incidence of Counseling Obese Adult Patients by Nurse Practitioners in the Primary Care Setting Background Obesity is an increasing epidemic. In the United States, more than 60 million or one in every three adults are obese as defined by Body Mass Index (BMI). Obesity is defined as a BMI greater than or equal to 30 (CDC, 2015). Successful treatment methods have been identified for reducing weight which include increasing physical activity and decreasing caloric intake. Exercise and physical activity have been shown to not only lose weight, but also improve cardiovascular functioning, lower blood pressure, and lower serum cholesterol levels (Porth, 2011, p. 232). Exercise also lowers blood sugar levels, improves insulin response in the body, and can decrease stress and anxiety; the opposite of each has been associated with obesity. A diet low in saturated fat and simple carbohydrates can improve the body’s insulin response, decrease adipose tissue, increase the body’s metabolic functioning ability (Porth, 2011, p. 232) and thereby reduce one’s BMI. Though obesity may be preventable and treatable through diet changes and exercise, reducing the rates is proving to be very difficult (Briscoe & Berry, 2009, p. 164).Professional medical societies and public...
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...jcroberts@hinet.org “A courtyard common to all will be swept by none” goes a Chinese proverb. Sadly, this ancient saying remains true in the modern American medical system. At the start of the third millennium of Western culture and progress, the suffering of medical illness arguably may be higher than in the centuries past. Until the last 50 years, illness—often combined with poverty—was a greater shortener of lives. But death, compared with today, came more quickly. In practice, an internist sees the local viewpoint of national statistics: 90 million Americans alive with chronic disease who spend more than 60% of the country’s health care budget.1 Of the 20 or so patients that many physicians see each day, one, maybe two, might not have a chronic disease. Almost every one of these patients has needs far beyond what a doctor can provide. And much of the reason is inferred from two questions: “Who pays the bill?” and “Who makes the profit?” At a policy level, the “epidemic” of chronic illness is as much a philosophical debate as it is a medical problem. If people live longer, they get illnesses of aging—dementia, loss of vision and hearing, organ failure, and cancers. In addition, chronic illness today may not have even been illness a few years ago. Mild hyperglycemia is now diabetes. The definition of hypercholesterolemia depends on at least 25% of Americans being “sufferers.” In clinical practice, philosophy is put aside in favor of what we all hope is...
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...Actions Nurses Should Take to Prevent the Increase of Childhood Obesity November 25, 2013 Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has become problematic in the United States. Approximately a third of children in the United States are overweight or obese. Researchers believe that this epidemic is becoming a major public health problem. Children are being diagnosed with diseases that usually occur later in life. It concerns nurses as well as the public to know that childhood obesity may not be reversible. Nurses must focus their practice on ways to help their patients lead a healthier life. There are various ways that Healthcare Professionals can intervene to prevent the increase of childhood obesity. Recommending and monitoring their patient’s physical activities and diet, and advocating are some of the many ways that nurses can help prevent and manage the increase of childhood obesity. Obesity and overweight are both defined as fat that has accumulated over time and has the ability to cause harm to the body. Estabrooks and Hayman (2008) found that childhood obesity is caused by the imbalance in energy intake and expenditure. There are significant factors that contribute to childhood obesity. A child who eats unhealthy meals in excessive amounts increases their likelihood of becoming obese. In addition, the lack of physical activity is a major cause of obesity. Berkowitz and Borchard (2009) indicate...
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...are different kinds of health including physical, mental and physical. I believe this is why there are so many definitions. The U.S. Public Health Service proposes that health promotion is more of advocating health in hope that it will become a “societal norm” for people individually as well as for the private and public businesses (Kreuter, 1980). The medical field is one “public business” that does a lot of health promotion for everyone, nurses especially. Nurses’ role in health promotion is necessary and critical. Nurses have a multi-disciplinary knowledge including many resources to help people understand their situation and get their health moving in a forward direction. Traditionally, nurses focused on preventing disease and changing the behavior of individuals regarding their health. Due to nurses becoming more diverse in their knowledge, their responsibility of being a “health promoter” is more complex. Currently, nurses are so focused on treating people who have illnesses and teaching them how to become healthy that teaching patients how to stay healthy is quite a challenge. Teaching individuals how to remain healthy is, in my opinion, going to be the future of nursing. Being an advocate, educating people/communities on how to move towards a better quality of life and focusing on all types of prevention. There are different levels of health promotion including primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention involves health...
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...The increase in obesity among UK’s population has been a tremendous interest in healthcare since it is seen as one of the principal factor for causing cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, costing NHS even more (MRC, 2013). The occurrence of obesity has been so common in the overall population that it has become vital for nurses to be up to date with information regarding obesity issues. Nurses should also be able to use those obtained information to prevent and help recognize those who are already obese by providing them with treatment choices and lifestyle changes information. There are many aspects of obesity treatment which require particular expertise and insights and so doing research on it helps students to gain more information and deliver good practice in the future. Therefore, this essay will be focused on bariatric surgery among adult. Bariatric surgery is a surgery that alters the digestion process in which broken food is absorbed slowly than usual to minimize the amount of nutrients and calories absorption. This type of surgery is recommended for people who are extremely obese- body mass index (BMI) of 35 or above along with severe health problems. This procedure may be effective in reducing weight and treating comorbidities, however, it is costly and has associated risk similar to those of any surgeries (NHS, 2013).The growing number of bariatric surgery not only seems to be a significant contributor to NHS cost but also appears to increase various legal and...
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...programs, actions and activities. Recognizing the health problems and evolving healthy life style is vital for people in our era and platform. Furthermore, the global economy is straining by increasing healthcare expenses. Thus, health promotion is the only way to reduce health incidence (occurrence of new cases) of definite diseases such as obesity, autism, heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer and many more. Some are focused efforts of public health professionals and agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) office of Disease Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Cancer Society, (Prevention of Disease (2011, ¶ 1 to 3). The effectiveness of global and local disease prevention programs depend mostly on individuals on how they take their personal responsibilities by avoiding tobacco use, substance abuse, and unsafe sex. All health problems start as a small issues than and develops into major illnesses. Many of these problems/ illnesses/ diseases can be prevented with adequate education at individual, institutional and community levels, (Prevention of Disease (2011, ¶ 1 to 3). Nurses play a major role in promoting health education to decrease the cost of health care and to advance disease prevention. Well-defined three levels of prevention such as; primary, secondary, and tertiary. (Edelman & Mandle, (2010, p. 14 to 19). Prevention of Disease - Primary Prevention Health education is the significant to the primary prevention and inhibiting...
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...Health Advocacy on Childhood Obesity Janeane Horan Walden University August third, 2014 Introduction According to the Center of Disease Control approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled (CDC, 2012). Today’s nurses are faced with a growing trend in overweight and obese children and have the responsibility to be the patient advocate and help. Health promotion is one of the most important aspects of nursing, and no matter what setting a nurse is in; they have the power to provoke change. Childhood obesity will be discussed in detail throughout this paper. Public policy needs to address the arising concern that childhood obesity has on today’s society. Creating an advocacy program based on two effective childhood obesity programs; The Power Up Initiative and Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) can do just that. The potential community-based advocacy program in this paper will address what needs to be included in school and after school programs to promote health and prevention of obesity. The program will also need to have a specific plan on what and how to educate local pediatricians and nurses regarding childhood obesity. What is it and what is the cause? Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of fat in the body (Mckinney, E., James, S., Murray, S., Ashwill, J., 2009). Fat is accumulated in the body when there is a combination...
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...essential for nurses to stay current with the increased complexity of the healthcare needs of today and into the future.In other words, the needs of our patients are changing, as we must change in order to be prepared to better serve that need. Nursing has a long history of formal education which moved out of hospitals and into colleges and universities early last century. The associate degree level of nursing was developed out of a need to produce nurses in response to a shortage during and following World War II. It was a proposed as a temporary solution to a shortage to a shortage but was not intended to replace the professional level of nursing education. The ADN program require about 2 yrs for the student to complete. The Adn nurses are associate degree in nursing, ADN nurses have clinical skills and hands on basic skills but they lack both management and leadership skills with in the nursing field. Additionally they lack research skills used in nursing as well as knowledge on informatics the use of technological advances in enhancing quality medical delivery. ADN gives you the fundamentals of nursing practices. They basic theory, skills, competencies knowledge of scope of practice and legalities for licensure and the essential general education core that is necessary as a foundation [English, psychology, biology chemistry, anatomy and physiology , etc].it gives you the bare minimum knowledge required to pass the Nclex licensure exam.ADN nurses not able to...
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...SYNTHESIS OF ADVANCED NURSING ROLES BROWN_K_W5A2_SU_NSG5000 Kerry Ann Brown South University Due to the changing health care environment, the nursing profession is currently in a process of evolution. Scopes of practice and role expansions are being prepared. Some of these roles are traditional, such as nurse practitioners who have been fighting for equality and recognition since the early 19th century. With the advent of technological advancements in health care new roles such as nurse informaticists, recognized as a specialty in the later part of the 20th century, are being put into practice and defined. More responsibilities are being given to the nursing profession due to its knowledge base within the constructs of organization, implementation, and evaluation skills with a human approach. During the context of this class much knowledge was gained in respect to the nurse practitioner (NP), nurse administrator, nurse educator, and nurse informaticist (nurse informatics specialist). Because health care is changing, the aforementioned roles are also evolving, this paper will explore the commonalities with each advance practice role and analyze the roles and contributions of the nurse informatics specialist. The nurse practitioner is a postgraduate prepared registered nurse, who has either a master’s degree or doctorate. Upon graduation, NPs possess a wealth of knowledge allowing them to independently manage direct clinical aspects of patient-centered holistic care (Hamric...
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...addresses the importance of lessening the risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and stress in order to prevent diabetes. Secondary Prevention phase intervene to slow the complications and the diabetic disease process. Tertiary Prevention is used to prevent the further complications of the diabetes and disease process after secondary prevention. This nurse will look at three journal articles related to diabetes and discuss the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in health promotion The primary prevention article discusses about the education on Self-care. The aim of self-care concept is to maintain and improve health and is to enable the individual to take all responsibilities regarding his or her own health. Research on Type 2 diabetes shows that self-care activity such as healthy diet and exercise. Avoiding alcohol use and smoking and reducing consumption of soft drinks can also lessen and prevent diabetes. The secondary prevention article discusses prevention of diabetes among adolescent in middle school. The author emphasizes the nutrition component in order to improve the quality of foods and beverages served to students. Dietary behaviors of children are influenced by school lunches and associated with the increasing early risk factor of overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Health professionals and policymakers must come up with better food pyramid approaches to minimize the risk of obesity and diabetes. The tertiary prevention article discusses...
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...Running head: NURSING ROLES IN THE THREE LEVELS Nursing Roles in the Three Levels of Health Promotion and Prevention April Nguyen Grand Canyon University: NRS 429v 03/18/2012 Instructor Melinda Darling, MSN, FNP Nursing Roles in the Three Levels of Health Promotion and Prevention For over a decade, health promotion and prevention has been the main focus of healthcare professionals in general and nurses in particular. What does it mean by health promotion and prevention? According to Edelman & Mandle (2010), it’s “the science and art of helping people change their lifestyles to move toward a state of optimal health” (p. 14). In other words, it’s the strategy used in purpose to increase a sense of well-living and to decrease episodes of illness that can happen to anyone at any age. By doing this, it helps lessen the expensive cost government and patients have to spend for the cure. Being alongside with the vulnerable population, nurses work as critical roles of advocates, healers, educators, and researchers throughout all three levels of promotion and prevention (Edelman & Mandle, 2010, p. 19-20). Primary Prevention The focus of the first level is to promote good health and to protect individuals from diseases. There’re many ways nurses can help with general health and with fighting specific illnesses. The most common ways include (1) educating benefit of vaccination, (2) giving vaccines, (3) instructing benefits of healthy diet and regular exercise...
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...Children Obesity Presentation Welcome to this presentation on childhood obesity, a very vulnerable population. In the next 20 minutes, based on the health issue of childhood obesity that is identified in the selected community setting from the Neighborhood, the team will introduce an innovative program that will target this major health issue and improve the health of this population. In this presentation, the Healthy People 2020 indicator will be referred as it relates to childhood obesity and contributes to the nursing role. The statistics information and the risk factors associated with childhood obesity will be presented. The team will also provide information that demonstrates the seriousness of this childhood health issue and the need for assistance from the State Health Department to develop an educational program to increase the public awareness in children obesity. With the efficient financial assistance, the community nurses will implement this educational program. The nurses will also evaluate the outcome and make a necessary improvement to this educational program. Jenna’s case as presented by the Neighborhood – Pearson Health Science (2011) is that Jenna is an overweight 14-year-old girl with type 2 diabetes. She lives with her mother, sister, and younger brother because her father left her when she was young and rarely showed up in her life. Her mother is busy with two jobs and a few evening work. Her younger brother has learning disability and has had problems...
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...Community Nursing The community health nurse has a primary role to assess the relationship of variables in the community with how they relate to patients and health. Cultural, religious, ethnic, and personal upbringings are variables that are considered to gain a basic understanding of the community framework. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three nursing diagnoses related to AL and his family living in a suburban community in Staten Island, New York. Interventions and outcomes will be expected for each diagnosis and will be integrated into the care plan and educational program specially designed for the chosen family. Family Assessment AL is a 65 year old man with an Italian ethnic background. He is a smoker who has been recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes Mellitus, mild obesity, and a history of coronary artery disease with one stent last year. His physician stated he is borderline diabetic that could be managed through diet and lifestyle modifications, and could not advance if he is compliant with suggested regimens. He lives in a two-family residence with his wife, and his father who lives in the side apartment downstairs. He has two adult children who live within close range and visit several times a week. Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring When caring for a special population group within a community, the nurse must integrate clinical thought to assimilate specifically designed interventions for patients. Nurses must be conscious of their responses...
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...“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which became Public Law 111-148, is probably the most significant legislation affecting healthcare since the passage of the Social Security Act of 1965. . . . The law paved way for over 32 Million uninsured Americans to access acute care, primary care, preventive care, home care, and long-term and palliative care (Web, J. A & Marshal, D. R. 2010). The challenge in the implementation is compounded by the chronic shortage of nursing and other health care professionals to take care of the growing need for health care. Owing to its large number of professionals, (over 3 million), nursing has a key role in the achievement of affordable care act, however this can only be achieved once the identified challenges are addressed. These challenges includes allowing nurses to practice to the full extent of their training and education with focus mainly on advanced practice nurses, create a seamless nurse education system, nurse involvement as full partners in health care and implementing a better workforce planning and policy making (IOM, 2010)...
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