Patient/Family Care study on Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Nursing has undergone much improvement over the years. It owes much of its body of knowledge to the influence of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a woman who pioneered and brought much respect to the profession through her vision. Nursing has basically moved from taking care of the sick to extending the care to include the family members and the community in general through the use of scientific methods and techniques which are employed to help solve problems. Quality assurance is a dynamic process through which nurses assume accountability for quality of care they provide. To ensure quality nursing care within the contemporary health care system, mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating care are under scrutiny. As the level of knowledge increases for a profession, the demand for accountability for its services likewise increases. Individuals within the profession must therefore assume responsibility for their professional actions and answerable to the recipients for their care. The changing scene of nursing care has brought into being, the patient/family care study, as a partial requirement by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana for the award of Registered General Nursing certificate. It is in this regard that I chose a patient with diabetes mellitus for the care study. The patient/family care study is an academic exercise written by final year students of nursing institutions and involves detail account of comprehensive nursing care rendered to a particular patient within a period of admission through to the day of discharge, there is a follow up to ensure a continuity of care.