Efficacy of Nursing Intervention on Patient Self Management of Cardio Vascular Disease - Essay Example

"Efficacy of Nursing Intervention on Patient Self Management of Cardio Vascular Disease" is an engrossing example of a paper on care.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) threatens the lives of millions of people in the advanced world especially due to obesity and an inactive lifestyle. The prevalence of CVD is greater among older people than younger people. Conventionally cardiologists subscribe to self-management to patients in Coronary Care Units (CCU) although nurses interact more with these patients than cardiologists do. It is proposed that if nurses were allowed to intervene for self-management of CVD through communication with patients in CCUs, the results would be better since nurses can afford more time for such patients compared to cardiologists. Moreover, the rising costs of healthcare especially for more critical healthcare applications such as CCUs require that nurses be employed in preference to cardiologists in order to lower healthcare costs.

Aims and Objectives

The proposed research will first determine if intervention for patient self-management shows any positive signs of improvement in CVD patients. The conventional routes of such intervention such as through healthcare practitioners, seminars, clubs, groups, and otherwise will be looked into through a review of the available literature to determine the efficacy of such intervention measures. The proposed research will also gauge the efficacy of nurse intervention to promote patient self-management for CVD. This efficacy will be compared to cardiologist-based intervention to promote patient self-management for CVD. Based on the findings of the proposed research, it will be formulated if nursing intervention is desirable at this point in time to produce comparable or better results than cardiologists.

Literature review

Various methods of intervention have been experimented with in order to improve the therapeutic output of CVD patients in CCUs. Methods such as intercessory prayer have been tried out but the little effect has been seen (Byrd, 1988). On the other hand, it has also been suggested that cardiovascular medication, as well as invasive treatments, should be used for elderly CVD patients as an effective intervention (Alexander et al., 2007). In most of the research carried out for intervention with CVD patients, the leading role is played by cardiologists who administer the intervention. However, more recent research has begun to suggest a greater role for nurses in intervention for CVD patients. Results from such research suggest that intervention through nursing groups was more effective than intervention through cardiologists (Voogdt-Pruis et al., 2010). In a similar manner, patient self-management for CVD problems is seen to improve based on the patient’s perception of nursing care in CCUs (Caldwell, 2005).

Research Methodology

The research will be carried out using a mixed research methodology. The initial research will be carried out using qualitative means in order to gain access to patient’s perceptions and requirements for effective self-management for CVD. Data will be collected using one on one interviews with patients, observations in CCUs, interviews with healthcare providers as well as relevant literature. The self-management techniques for CVD precipitated from these methods will be implemented in a CCU setting using a nursing group. The outcomes will be compared to existing literature documenting intervention efficacy for cardiologists. Data will be collected in a quantitative manner to document how effective intervention has been for CVD.

All data collected for research purposes will be obtained after the involved person or party provides their consent. Moreover, the research will not document any names in order to protect the privacy of the involved respondents.

Resources required

This project would require access to a CCU unit where cardiologists and nurses are employed.

Research plan and timetable

Qualitative research would require around two months to execute including interviews with patients and healthcare providers as well as the relevant literature review. This will be followed by intervention implementation through nurses at a CCU that would require around one year to implement intervention and observe its effects.