Quantitative Article Critical Review
The article titled Diabetes outcomes in primary care: evaluation of the diabetes nurse practitioner compared to the physician authored by Patrick Conlon finds better control of diabetes by nurse practitioners than physicians. The article finds better glycemic control and lower hemoglobin A1C lab values by nurse practitioners. The outcomes of nurse practitioners indicate nurse practitioners are essential members to the healthcare team to improve quality of life in the diabetic patient.
The article compares two physicians and one nurse practitioner in the study. An initial group of 42 but due to various reasons the final study only included 27 sample patients. The history of the majority of the patient were of “Mexican immigrant population” and the age range was 27-67 years of age” (Conlon, 2010, p. 27). Patients were scheduled by the staff, physician, or nurse practitioner for diabetes visits to the office. The nurse practitioner received many of the new referrals for diabetes education from physician colleagues and other referrals for patients who had not achieved or were not reaching glycemic control goals. The nurse practitioner was also consulted when diet and exercise compliance needed to be implemented for the patient. “Patient achievability was measured by each practitioner documenting patient compliance with mutually established goals and acceptance of their diabetes plan” (Conlon, 2010, p. 28). There were several other measurements of improvement measured such as A1C, blood pressure, capillary glucose, or weight that were followed –up on by the nurse practitioner and physicians.
The nurse practitioners regularly that routine care included diabetes teaching, labs, and adjusting medications to improve metabolic goals these interventions became a routine part of the chart by nurse practitioners. These were included in the monthly visits. The physician lead group
References: Conlon, P. (2010). Diabetes outcomes in primary care: evaluation of the diabetes nurse practitioner compared to the physician. Primary Health Care, 20(5), 26-31. Retrieved from etsu.edu Goolsby, M. J. (2007). 2006 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Diabetes Management Survey. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 19, 496-498. doi:10.1111/j.1745-7599.2007.00249.x