Teaching Patients to Live with Diabetes

Introduction

The title of this lesson is “Get Prepared to Live with Diabetes”. It will help patients who are recently diagnosed with diabetes understand the peculiarities of this disease and changes that can happen to them in the nearest future. Patients, as the main learners, are ready to study because they recognize the benefits of patient education and admit the necessity to ask for professional help and receive appropriate explanations on how to deal with the disease, how to behave, and how not to do additional harm.

The rationale for the Lesson

This lesson is important as it supports patients in their intentions to continue living after such a diagnosis. It also provides hope to those who are not prepared for all health, behavioral, and emotional changes (Lange, Swift, Pankowska, & Danne, 2014). Diabetes has several forms, diagnostic tests, and outcomes (American Diabetes Association, 2015). This lesson raises people’s awareness about this disease and its characteristics and explains cognitive and behavioral changes in patients.

Goals and Objectives

Instructional goals

The main goals of the lesson are to inform patients about possible behavioral changes associated with diabetes and to prepare patients to live under new conditions and with a number of new requirements and restrictions. Patients should know when and how they can ask for help and support. Instructors must cover all main aspects of the disease and make them clear to their learners.

Learning/behavioral objectives

Regarding Bloom’s taxonomy, patient education has to be based on the three main objectives, depending on the required domain. From the cognitive point of view, students should demonstrate their understanding of the facts and solve diabetes-based problems with 90% of successful results. The affective domain presupposes that patients have to show an adequate reaction to the received diagnosis in 100% of cases. Finally, it is expected they regularly test urine and blood for glucose and interpret the results as a part of a psychomotor domain.

Lesson Content, Teaching Activities, and Instructional Methods

Objectives	Content	Instructional Method	Time	Resources	Assessment Method
Cognitive objective: to understand the results and be ready to solve diabetes-based problems	A brief speech about diabetes, its epidemiology, epistemology, and pathophysiology; Use of statistics; Attention to illustrative and real-life examples	Lecture through presentation	20 min	A presentation prepared beforehand	Participation in group discussion for patients and reflection of students for instructors
Affective objective: to demonstrate an appropriate reaction to the given diagnosis and an ability to make future plans and steps with the disease	Patients discuss their current problems and concerns; An instructor ask questions about diabetes; Students take special quizzes about diabetes in everyday life	Discussions and online activities	20 min	Cards with situations; PCs to take quizzes online	Results of quizzes and tasks for learners and suggestions of patients for educators
Psychomotor objective: to know how to control a personal health condition, take tests, and interpret the results with the help of special devices	Patients test their blood for glucose, exchange the results, and interpret them under the instructor’s control; An instructor reflects on the work done	Computer-assisted instruction (YouTube illustrative clips)	20 min	Compact blood testers, PCs, or other devices to surf the web and interpret the results, and material to make personal notes	Fast and correct interpretations of tests for learners and reflection of learners for instructors

Lesson Plan for Family Education

Introduction

Family education is an important step in managing the lives of people with diabetes that should be taken at the educational level. Family involvement is usually characterized by emotional support, family teamwork, and conflict discussion (Feldman et al., 2018; Mcewen, Pasvogel, & Murdaugh, 2016). However, to be effective, family support has to be properly organized and studied. Therefore, this lesson titled “Get Prepared to Live with Diabetes: Support Your Family” helps all family members understand their roles in diabetes management and evaluation. The entire family, except a patient, is expected to improve their knowledge about diabetes, its forms, outcomes, and growth so that people who live together and have close relationships with the patient know enough about behavioral, emotional, and physical changes and be ready to help.

The rationale for the Lesson

This lesson is important because of two reasons. On the other hand, it is not an easy task to observe physiological and emotional changes among close relatives, friends, and family members. A family has to be ready not only to support and understand, but also to take steps, make decisions, and consider future outcomes. The higher the level of family awareness of the health condition of a patient is, the more chances to provide the patient with appropriate and necessary help can be observed. On the other hand, not all family members are properly prepared for diabetes due to the lack of knowledge or personal attitudes to this disease. They cannot understand what and why they have to do with their family. In other words, family members have to be supported and educated almost the same way patients are.

Goals and Objectives

Instructional goals

The goals of this lesson are to prepare family members to live with a person who has diabetes and to raise their awareness of the main physiological, emotional, and other changes. Family members have to understand what kind of help they can offer. Any support should be appropriate and professionally approved.

Learning/behavioral objectives

Bloom’s taxonomy promotes the creation of three significant objectives in this lesson plan. First, it is required to make sure that learners are able to recognize the needs of patients who have diabetes. It is an example of a cognitive perspective. In addition, the affective domain includes the necessity to share personal opinions and control emotions. Family members should not demonstrate neglect or high concerns about the changes in their relatives’ health but react to the situation in a proper, supportive, and calm way. Finally, the psychomotor domain aims at developing the skills to surf the web, pose correct questions, and analyze the answers. Each objective has its own teaching activities and instructional methods for evaluation.

Lesson Content, Teaching Activities, and Instructional Methods

Goal	Content	Instructional Method	Time	Resources	Assessment Method
Cognitive objective: to recognize the needs of patients	Lecture about the main signs and symptoms of diabetes and intensive help that can be offered to patients at home	Lecture and discussion	15 min	Handout	A simple quiz for learners and a reflective questionnaire from learners for instructors
Affective objective: to control emotions	Learners listen to several stories about diabetes’ development; Students discuss what they know about diabetes; Instructors pose questions and give several questionnaires	Brainstorming and discussion	25 min	Papers with questionnaires and boards with discussion points	Questionnaire results are discussed for learners, and reflection from learners is offered to instructors
Psychomotor objective: to surf the web and find answers	Instructors demonstrate how to surf the web; Learners are informed about the sources of additional help; Students share their opinions and knowledge	Discussion and computer-assisted demonstration	20 min	PC or other devices	Worksheets for learners and reflective thoughts of participants for instructors

Lesson Plan for Staff Development

Introduction

The peculiar feature of this lesson is that its learners are professional nurses and other medical workers who have to be supported at the developmental level. The medical staff aims at developing their skills in terms of communication, cultural awareness, recognition of interests, and professional support (Salcedo, 2015; Tan, Bernstein, Gendler, Hanauer, & Herman, 2016). This lesson can help medical employees identify new skills and approaches to cooperate with diabetes patients and their families. However, first, they have to identify what progress they have already made and what kind of work can be offered to improve their results.

The rationale for the Lesson

This lesson cannot be ignored because it aims at improving the already gained skills in treating and managing diabetes among different patients. Instructors should not educate or inform about the peculiarities of the disease. Its peculiarity is to help people improve their organizational skills and activities regarding the already offered material and developed abilities.

Goals and Objectives

Instructional goals

The central goals of this lesson are to discuss the already offered techniques for cooperation with patients, define the strong and weak aspects of the activities, and discover the best options for current medical workers. Learners have to share their experiences. In addition, they must develop their analytical skills.

Learning/behavioral objectives

Boom’s taxonomy implies the use of three crucial domains in an educational process. For example, from the cognitive point of view, it is expected that the medical personnel can improve their cooperation with patients up to 95% demonstrating different approaches to work. From the affective perspective, learners add value to their activities and prove their concernment by new approaches and talks. Finally, the psychomotor domain focuses on the necessity to reduce the number of concerns from patients and their families up to 80%. In other words, staff development can be evaluated through the opinions of patients.

Lesson Content, Teaching Activities, and Instructional Methods

Goal	Content	Instructional Method	Time	Resources	Assessment Method
Cognitive objective: to identify and discuss old and new approaches to communicate with patients	Discuss what has been achieved in the nursing field while cooperating with diabetes patients; Recognize the already used working approaches; Evaluate recent improvements in cooperation between the medical staff and patients/their families	Discussion	20 min	Board for making general notes	The level of participation of the medical staff and their opinions about the worth of the activities
Affective objective: to analyze weak and strong aspects of their work	Use a list of activities and define their main characteristics; Think about how to improve each activity; Surf the web to discover what other researchers think of the same activities	Computer-assisted activities and discussion	20 min	PC or other applicable devices	The number and context of sources found can prove the abilities of learners to improve their skills
Psychomotor objective: to receive positive feedback from patients and an increased level of family concerns	Take quizzes to check what the staff knows about their cooperation with patients; Develop small presentations (up to 2-4 minutes) on how to improve collaboration between nurses and patients	Presentation and brainstorming	20 min	PCs for online tests and presentations	Learners should receive 95% of positive feedback; Instructors have to ask about possible suggestions (if any from learners)

References

American Diabetes Association. (2015). Classification and diagnosis of diabetes. Diabetes Care, 38(1), 8-16.

Feldman, M. A., Anderson, L. M., Shapiro, J. B., Jedraszko, A. M., Evans, M., Weil, L. E.,… Weissberg-Benchell, J. (2018). Family-based interventions targeting improvements in health and family outcomes of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: A systematic review. Current Diabetes Reports, 18(3), 15-27.

Lange, K., Swift, P., Pankowska, E., & Danne, T. (2014). Diabetes education in children and adolescents. Pediatric Diabetes, 15(20), 77-85.

Mcewen, M. M., Pasvogel, A., & Murdaugh, C. L. (2016). Family self-efficacy for diabetes management: Psychometric testing. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 24(1), 32-43.

Salcedo, R. M. (2015). A staff development program: Diabetes and TB education and screening. Web.

Tan, M. H., Bernstein, S. J., Gendler, S., Hanauer, D., & Herman, W. H. (2016). Design, development and deployment of a diabetes research registry to facilitate recruitment in clinical research. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 47, 202-208.