Abstract

Chronic diseases are "diseases of long duration and slow progression" and World Health Organization (WHO) defines non communicable Chronic Diseases (NCD) as diseases, not typically caused by an infectious agent but from genetic susceptibility, lifestyle or environmental exposure. According to WHO, NCDs contribute to 60% of global deaths & 43% of disease burden and by 2020, 73% of global deaths & 60 % of global disease burden will be due to NCDs. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes are common NCDs. There are four modifiable health risk behaviors which cause these NCDs. They are lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption. Nurses have an important role in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention of NCDs. Primary prevention includes addressing the risk factors, increasing awareness and motivating for life style modification by encouraging realistic & affordable healthy choices. Nurses can be change agents and work towards policy revision at government level to make healthy choices easy choices. Secondary prevention focuses on early identification of the disease. Tertiary prevention focuses on appropriate disease management. Successful management of chronic diseases occurs only when prepared, informed, and motivated patients and families, health care teams and the community work together for a common goal. Nurses have a great role in this. As the most trusted profession, patients and families accept them and discuss their concerns. Patients live with these conditions and they need to modify their lifestyle to improve the management outcome. Nurses can very well work with patients to identify a working strategy for them. In a complex health care system, patients often get overwhelmed. Care coordination is another area where nurses have an important role. As NCDs continue to be a global concern, nurses are ready to be in forefront to make waves and lead the fight against this tsunami.

Description

43rd Biennial Convention 2015 Theme: Serve Locally, Transform Regionally, Lead Globally.`

Letha M. Joseph

Author Details

Letha M. Joseph, RN, AGPCNP-BC

Sigma Membership

Alpha Alpha

Type

Poster

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Chronic Diseases, Lifestyle Modifications, Health Promotion

Conference Name

43rd Biennial Convention

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Conference Year

2015

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Download

Share

COinS
 

Nurses leading the fight against chronic diseases: Are you ready?

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Chronic diseases are "diseases of long duration and slow progression" and World Health Organization (WHO) defines non communicable Chronic Diseases (NCD) as diseases, not typically caused by an infectious agent but from genetic susceptibility, lifestyle or environmental exposure. According to WHO, NCDs contribute to 60% of global deaths & 43% of disease burden and by 2020, 73% of global deaths & 60 % of global disease burden will be due to NCDs. Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes are common NCDs. There are four modifiable health risk behaviors which cause these NCDs. They are lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption. Nurses have an important role in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention of NCDs. Primary prevention includes addressing the risk factors, increasing awareness and motivating for life style modification by encouraging realistic & affordable healthy choices. Nurses can be change agents and work towards policy revision at government level to make healthy choices easy choices. Secondary prevention focuses on early identification of the disease. Tertiary prevention focuses on appropriate disease management. Successful management of chronic diseases occurs only when prepared, informed, and motivated patients and families, health care teams and the community work together for a common goal. Nurses have a great role in this. As the most trusted profession, patients and families accept them and discuss their concerns. Patients live with these conditions and they need to modify their lifestyle to improve the management outcome. Nurses can very well work with patients to identify a working strategy for them. In a complex health care system, patients often get overwhelmed. Care coordination is another area where nurses have an important role. As NCDs continue to be a global concern, nurses are ready to be in forefront to make waves and lead the fight against this tsunami.