Providing care for patients with chronic diseases is a challenging task primarily because of the necessity to make the services consistent. In chronic care management, it is imperative to not only address the current health needs of the patient but also provide the latter with extensive information about the specifics of their disorder. In addition, a nurse must mention the tools for preventing the instances of health issues aggravation, and the nearest facilities’ location, as well as the resources that the patient can use to learn more about the subject matter (Ancker et al., 2015). The application of the Chronic Care Model, in its turn, will serve as the foundation for building the patient’s awareness about their condition, thus, improving the patient’s quality of life and creating the environment, in which the target audience can acquire the necessary skills for managing their condition independently.
The adoption of the Chronic Care model to treating patients with Alzheimer’s, though requiring certain adjustments, is likely to create premises for an improved environment design for the target patients. According to a recent study, the Chronic Care Model for addressing Alzheimer’s disease, as well as mental conditions, in general, implies completing three stages. First, the socio-economic and political context of the patient’s environment must be considered closed. Specifically, the factors that may inhibit the provision of the necessary information or the patient’s access to the relevant data need to be evaluated. Therefore, an APRN must collect the related data to carry out an extensive analysis of the factors that are likely to affect the process of treatment (Jaglal et al., 2014).
Another crucial stage involves creating a stronger link between the patient and the local community. The integration in the latter is essential to the success of the therapy. Researches show that the support of the community members, as well as the involvement in the local processes, affects the patients especially positively, allowing them to continue communicating successfully and, therefore, being socially active (Balas et al., 2014). Therefore, it is the responsibility of an APRN to make sure that the patients with Alzheimer’s should receive enough support from the local community. More importantly, it is necessary to encourage the patients to take an active part in the life of the community. For instance, participation in local events could be viewed as an option (Balas et al., 2014).
Finally, the issue regarding the promotion of awareness needs to be brought up. While it is important to make sure that the patient receives enough support from the people around them, it is also imperative that the patient should be aware of their condition and their basic needs themselves. In other words, an APRN must make sure that the patient should have full access to the information relevant to their condition. Furthermore, the resources necessary to sustain healthy changes in the patients’ life must be provided to the target audience. The resources in question may include both the traditional and the electronic ones; in fact, the application of the latter is desirable because of the speed of data processing and the amount of information available.
The Chronic Care Model can be used successfully for managing Alzheimer’s disease successfully as it serves as a tool for promoting an active acquisition of the relevant skills and information by the patient. In other words, the model enhances the significance of awareness among the target audiences, therefore, creating prerequisites for improving the patient’s quality of life and offering efficient palliative care.
Reference List
Ancker, J. S., Witteman, H. O., Hafeez, B., Provencher, T., Van de Graaf, M., & Wei, E. (2015). The invisible work of personal health information management among people with multiple chronic conditions: Qualitative Interview Study Among Patients and Providers. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(6), 137. Web.
Balas, M. C., Vasilevskis, E. E., Olsen, K. M., Schmid, K. K., Shostrom, V., Cohen, M. Z.,… & Burke, W. J.(2014). Effectiveness and safety of the awakening and breathing coordination, delirium monitoring/management, and early exercise/mobility (ABCDE) bundle. Critical Care Medicine, 42(5), 1024-1036.
Jaglal, S. B., Guilcher, S. J. T., Bereket, T., Kwan, M., Munce, S. Conklin. J.,.. & Riopelle, R. (2014). Development of a chronic care model for neurological conditions (CCM-NC). BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 409-420. Web.