Introduction
I will be presenting my research on Kidney Disease within the African American and Latino Communities. The research question is: “Could better-quality nursing education and the introduction of new data processing and education technologies significantly improve the health status of the African American and Latin American populations of people at risk for kidney disease throughout the year, compared to the current level of services and technology used?” First, statistics regarding the number of people struggling with kidney failure will be presented in a graph. Next, a brochure on kidney disease, symptoms, and causes for it will be discussed. Then, a description of the quality initiative from nurses treating patients with kidney failure will be provided. Later, the effects of the provision of the quality initiative will be discussed. Lastly, solutions for improving the quality of services for Latino and African American patients with diabetes and kidney disease will be suggested.
Statistics on kidney failure among African American and Latino population
Studies indicate that 13% of African Americans and 13.1% of Latinos suffer from kidney failure leading to most mortality cases among adults. Moreover, studies show that a third of Latinos and 20% of African-Americans are not under any healthcare coverage. The blood pressure cases in the black population stood at 42%. High blood pressure, in turn, leads to kidney disease or kidney failure. Furthermore, African-Americans and Latinos are six times more likely to develop kidney disease/failure from diabetes. Thus, it can be seen that kidney failure is a more significant problem among minority groups—lack of adequate healthcare results in various issues which lead to or exacerbate kidney failure.
What is kidney failure?
Moving to the next point, what is kidney failure? Kidney failure occurs when kidneys cannot filter harmful substances from the blood, resulting in a spread of toxins in the body. Symptoms might include swollen joints and feet, shortness of breath, fatigue, confusion, chest pain, and pressure. African Americans and Latinos develop kidney failure for several reasons. Firstly, people do not recognize diabetic symptoms, and high blood pressure problems timely. As a result, they fail to treat illness before it becomes severe. Moreover, high levels of poverty do not allow minority groups to receive adequate health care.
A description of the quality initiative from nurses treating patients with kidney failure
The high-quality service of nurses includes prescribing and conducting the treatment based on the patient’s ethnic origin and financial situation. Firstly, minority groups or people from less wealthy groups of society might not have enough resources to afford expensive medical help. In that cases, nurses should be able to provide alternatives to them. Moreover, if it becomes evident that illness threatens the client with imminent death, the nurse should be able to provide service depending on the national origin of the patient.
Moreover, the nurse should improve the patient’s attitude towards the treatment by effectively describing the illness and treating the kidney failure of the patient. As a result, awareness of people on the topic of kidney disease will increase.
Effect of the quality initiative
The project is expected to positively impact diabetes and kidney disease treatment by improving the knowledge and skills of nurses. It is a common problem when minorities are not treated as required by health service standards. Thus, it is vital to ensure that this category of American citizens receives adequate treatment. The project’s result should be reducing the number of cases of inadequate care for patients from national minorities.
Solution for improving the quality of services for Latino and African American patients with diabetes and kidney disease
To improve the quality of service, courses on diabetes and renal diseases for nurses should be created. Classes will provide better treatment and allow nurses to meet the needs of clients in need of care.
Additionally, the transition to electronic medical records instead of the paper-based system for recording customer information, which is still present in many clinics, will make it possible to create more error-free customer databases. Consequently, nurses will monitor the patient remotely, which will help them carry out an urgent intervention. The combined application of the indicated solutions to the analyzed problem will give the best result against the increase in the mortality rate among African American and Latin community representatives.
References
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