After discussing culturally appropriate diabetes prevention with my mentor, many benefits including providing education and knowledge over lifestyle choices that can reduce the risk associated with diabetes, and improve quality of life, along with increasing one's life expectancy (American Diabetes Association, 2013). Instituting preventive measures for diabetes, would decrease the burden that diabetes imposes on society (American Diabetes Association, 2013).
The average cost to treat an individuals that have been diagnosed with diabetes is about $13,700 per year, of which about $7,900 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2013).
Quality aspect on diabetes prevention programs can be an increase in productivities in school, decreased absenteeism, and overall-better health and education to those affected by the intervention brought about with this EBP project (American Diabetes Association, 2013). It puts patients at the center of communication and permits them to collaborate and participate in their own care.
One clinical aspect to keep in mind when developing my EBP project, is to keep track of clinical outcomes up to 3 years post-baseline and the relationship between program engagement and clinical outcomes in a digital diabetes prevention program, since I am able to follow students for years in the school district (Sepah, Jiang, Ellis, McDermott, Peters, 2017).
Indirect and direct impact to financial, quality, and clinical aspects to culturally appropriate diabetes prevention programs according to the, the American Diabetes Association reported that the total medical costs and lost school days for people diagnosed with diabetes is directly related to poorer educational outcomes. Direct medical costs come to $176 billion and indirect costs, such as disability, loss of productivity, and premature death, equal $69 billion.
Diabetes prevention programs will lead to lifestyle changes that can help students to lose weight through eating better and being more physically active, and decrease one's risk of type 2 diabetes (CDC, 2016).
American Diabetes Association. (2013). The Cost of Diabetes.
Sepah, S. C., Jiang, L., Ellis, R. J., McDermott, K., & Peters, A. L. (2017). Engagement and outcomes in a digital Diabetes Prevention Program: 3-year update. BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, 5(1), e000422.