Introduction
Care providers have recently recognized the important role that patients play in health maintenance. Therefore, nurses should take an active coaching role to help patients achieve this cause. Coaching with respect to Advanced Practice Nurses [APN] means effective patient education to inspire them to contribute actively to their care (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2005, p.532). Patients are currently in constant need of information, although providers are often unable to offer it.
Coaching role of APNs
Clearly, there needs to be someone to provide this indispensable coaching service to patients. Hamric, Spross, and Hanson argue that, APNs are in atheright position to provide individual and systematic patient coaching (2005, p.532). Knowledge of specialty and primary care gives nurses an upper hand in identifying the patients coaching needs for a distinct patient category, critiquing accessible material for applicability, and helping in designing programs and materials. Further, while some segment of patient coaching is billable, sponsoring group coaching programs is often a challenge. Knowledge of the research process allows APNs to determine and act on prospective sources of the grant funding for group coaching, whereas contacts obtained during their practice as coaches and consultants enable them to seek private or corporate sources of financial support.
The Internet provides information for patients and providers, including staff nurses; nevertheless, much of this information can be overpowering and irrelevant to the patient. Therefore, APNs can help filter and validate the information to provide meaning to the patients’ scenario (Hamric, Spross, & Hanson, 2005, p.532). In addition, APNs are liable to coach patients with chronic diseases concerning specialty disease matters and health. APNs combine teaching and coaching practice into the immediate clinical period they spend with patients.
APNs’ coaching role to staff nurse’s concerns assisting them to develop practice skills. In addition, nurses approach APNs for advice in case of misunderstanding with colleagues and or another APN in practice (Jansen & Zwygart-Stauffacher, 2010, p. 89). To staff nurses, APNs coaching act as a preceptor for helping them develop their skills.
APN helps prepare futures generation of staff nurses in their specialty. They help in nurturing nursing students with objective of increasing the ranks of the health care workforce and determine the improvement of advanced practice nursing. Preceptors coach staff nurse through a transition from the role of overall registered nurse to a nurse expert (Denise, 2009, p.280). The APNs facilitates smooth transition for nursing students from one role to another.
Coaching patient with type 2 diabetes
Patients with type 2 diabetes face various challenges ranging from glycemic control, behavior change, and psychosocial factors among others. Indeed, these factors account for more than 50% and even a record of 93% noncompliance prevalence for diabetes patients (Wolever, Dreusicke, Fikkan, Hawkins, Yeung, Wakefield, Duda, Flowers, Cook, & Skinner, 2010, p.629). Clearly, an urgent intervention is necessary to help bring down the noncompliance rate.
Other interventions including telephone follow-ups and lifestyle prescription have limitations. Wolever et al., (2010) note that the former overlooks the importance of building trustworthy relationship with the patient, while the later does not account for the patient inability to make behavior changes (p.633). In contrast, coaches help build trust and growth-promoting relationship, inspire them, develop self-efficacy, and induce the process of change.
As a coach, I will help the patient understand the pathophysiology of the disease and explain the various components of diabetes including diet, and activity. I will coach him/her concerning diet, wherein s/he must cut down on starch and sugars, while increasing on fruits and vegetables intake. Moreover, s/he should assume an active lifestyle while avoiding sedentary lifestyle and incorporate routine physical exercises. In addition, I will let the patient that s/he must consider the timing of the exercise to coincide with two to three hours subsequent to meals. Finally, I will coach him/her on the appropriate internet information.
Conclusion
Coaching is an important responsibility of APNs for offer patients and providers with opportunity to sustain health in the community. Therefore, nursing school programs should consider coaching as an integral component of nursing career and improved it to facilitate quality practice.
References
Denise, G. (2009). The Teaching-Coaching Role of the APN. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, 23(3), 279 – 283.
Hamric, A. B., Spross, J. A., & Hanson, C. M. (2005). Advanced Practice Nursing – An Integrated approach (3rd Ed.). Elsevier Saunders
Jansen, M. P., & Zwygart-Stauffacher, M. (2010). Advanced Practice Nursing – core Concepts for professional role development. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Wolever, R. Q., Dreusicke, M., Fikkan, J., Hawkins, T. V., Yeung, S., Wakefield, J., Duda, L., Flowers, P., Cook, C., & Skinner, E. (2010). Integrative Health Coaching for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes– A Randomized Clinical Trial. Diabetes educator, 36(4), 629-39.