Introduction
This purpose of the document is to critique evidence based nursing paper. The nursing paper chosen for the critique is on diagnosing diabetes (O’Shea, 2010).
Problem – as presented by the author (s)
The nursing paper provides detailed information about the diabetics, its types, how it is diagnosed, what precautions have to be taken by a diabetic, medicines used and also the different levels of dosages. The paper details the required steps on diagnosis of the disease and the various actions and what steps to be followed to treat the patient.
Reason the article was chosen for critique
The paper provides practical guide to diagnosing Type 2 diabetes. There are few strong reasons for choosing this paper for critique. The stealth nature of the Type 2 diabetes results in serious complications. Author of this critique wanted to review the latest methods available to effectively diagnose the Type 2 diabetes. This paper provides such methods. The critique author is personally inclined to know more about the cause & effects of this disease. The review of this paper provides the window of opportunity to him to understand the deeper issues in Type 2 diabetes.
Body / Summary
Procedures & Methods as used in the article.
The paper is an effective treatise on the causes, symptoms and the prevalence of the diabetes in UK. Author followed the secondary research methodology by referring the medical journals and statistical data. Author relies on the statistics to convey the widespread effect of both types of diabetes. The statistics provided by the author are from the secondary sources. In addition to the statistics, author has provided the details on the medical terminologies related to diabetes. Various tables are provided to emphasize the root causes, metabolic syndromes, risk factors associated with the onset of diabetes. A patient case study with appropriate diagnostic questions is provided in the end of the paper to help the reader to understand the steps required in correctly diagnose a patient for diabetes.
Summary of important findings as presented in the article
This paper is a comprehensive guide on the diagnosis of the diabetes. It provides the practical steps, which a nurse can take to diagnose a patient with both types of diabetes. Apart from providing these steps, the author provides the metabolic syndromes, risk factors, high risk groups, various tests to confirm the patient with diabetes as well as a case study, which provides the practical crystallisation of the details in the paper. Dietary advice and the precautions to prevent diabetes are clearly explained as well.
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In terms of the statistics, the author has provided relevant statistics to prove the dangers associated with the diabetes. For example, diabetes is the most widespread disease of metabolism, affecting 2.6 million people in the UK. In this study, it was found that 15% of all adults and children diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes and 85% have type 2 diabetes. In the UK, it is estimated that 10% of adults diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes and 90% have type 2 diabetes. In 2007-2008, the overall prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in Great Britain was found to be 3.9%. Not all diabetes is diagnosed – 15% of people with diabetes may be undiagnosed or not identified on a practice register. Thus, it is important for a practitioner nurse to be aware of the steps in diagnosing the diabetes. The diagnosis can be for a person suffering from acute symptoms as well as from ‘not so clear’ symptoms.
Conclusions related to the problem as presented in the article
The paper concludes with a case study, presented with an objective to summarise the discussions in the earlier part. Every step of the diagnosis is discussed in the case study with a context of the theory discussed in the paper to provide help to the practical nurses for accurate diagnosis of both kinds of diabetes. On the prevention of diabetes aspect, in general, all adults with identified risk factors should be screened at regular intervals. It is indispensable that practice nurses have the knowledge and skills to screen patients opportunistically and that they do not undervalue the importance of carrying out the new patient health checks in their consultations.
Recommendations to the reader as presented in the article
This paper will be beneficial not only to patients who are suffering from diabetes but also for everybody else who are developing symptoms that has been discussed in the paper which are indicators of diabetes. This paper helps to make the readers aware about the complications that they can face due to delayed detection of this disease and also discusses different ways to avoid it. It is suggested to exercise to avoid as well as face the disease. Even for the practical nurses the ways to diagnose, how to diagnose each symptom has been given in detail. If the medical staffs as well as the general public have appropriate knowledge about this disease and its symptoms, then only will they be able to avoid this disease. Like in any other disease, prevention is better than cure in diabetes.
Discussion of the reference list – review the references used in the article in terms of appropriateness as resources and currency to within five years of the publication date.
As mentioned earlier, author of the paper has conducted secondary research to come with this practical guide for the nursing staffs. Various expert resources operating into the domain of prevention & cure of diabetes have been leveraged to consolidate the findings. Author has delved upon the official websites of diabetes for building the context of the disease. Appropriate references have been made to the academic sites for an easy to understand explanation of the metabolic syndromes, associated risk factor and groups. Papers from various health organizations e.g. World Health Organization (WHO), National Health Services (NHS) have been referred to quote various relevant statistics.
Conclusions / overall critique of the study
Is the author clear in his/her presentation of the specific topic and overall purpose?
The main purpose of this paper is to make general public as well as nursing staff people aware about diabetes. Author had been clear on discussing the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and the high risk groups. The risk factors, metabolic syndromes have been discussed in detail. Author has provided detailed description of the type of diabetes and the symptoms of both kinds of the disease. Considering that the paper is designed to be a guide for practical nurses for helping them in diagnosing diabetes, especially type 2, it is a successful attempt. All the signs and symptoms of diabetes type 2 are discussed in detail. A table is provided, which describes the advice and targets to prevent complications of type 2 diabetes. One of the tables details the blood glucose levels used in the diagnosis of diabetes blood glucose diagnosis is given. Moreover, author provides the statistics to prove the growing menace of this disease and the high risk groups.
Did the reading affirm or contradict your ideas about nursing? Is what you read consistent with what your textbooks present? (support with evidence)
The paper successfully affirms the ides of nursing because it provides description about the disease and detailed procedure for diagnosis, which will help the practical nurses to handle the patients well and will help in proper diagnosis of the problem. The scientific principles have been followed in writing this paper. Enough contexts are built for the disease, supported by statistics and evidences. This is followed by the description of diagnostic steps and the appropriate medicine schedule for the affected patients. The paper also provides the prevention mechanism for the high risk groups.
The details in the paper are consistent with the nursing textbooks as any disease is described in a similar way.
Will the article help you in your future practice as a nurse (nursing implications)? Did the information cause you to rethink how you might perform a certain nursing skill set?
This article would help someone who wants to pursue their career as a nurse. The clear description of diabetes and its implications would definitely enhance the knowledge of someone aspiring to be a practicing nurse.
The information provided in the paper definitely makes one think of doing a detailed study of disease & patient, before attempting to prevent or cure the disease.
What important information did you learn?
All the major information about diabetes is given in the paper as well as the ways to recognise the symptoms is given in detail which not only help in avoiding the problem but also help in proper diagnosis of the symptoms that are developing.
What exactly is the contribution of this work to the nursing profession as a whole?
This paper will help a lot to the practical nurses as this will enhance their knowledge about the disease and will help them to diagnose and to give proper advice to their patients for prevention and cure of diabetes.
What are your reactions and opinions regarding the article?
This paper is very useful to gain knowledge about diabetes, which is a very wide spread disease and it is handy for the patient and the nurses to understand this common disease very meticulously.
Does the article raise other issues for further discussion?
As this paper deals with the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, a need is felt that details about type 1 diabetes should have been included as well. More details about diabetes type 1 should have been discussed. The risk prevention of diabetes, exposure to high risk groups, ethnicity being a crucial factor are other issues, which could be discussed for effective prevention of diabetes.
Will you recommend the article to your peers? Why?
This paper is recommended for any aspiring nurse. It provided appropriate knowledge about diabetes, which can help every aspiring student to be a better nurse and serve the patient with better service.
What do you think of this journal as a resource for nurses? Do you think you might subscribe to it? Why or why not?
This paper was downloaded from an online journal on nursing. As the journal contains good references on nursing, I would like to subscribe to it.
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