Ações do enfermeiro na promoção da qualidade de vida do paciente acometido por nefropatia diabética: uma proposta informativa

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a globally relevant public heath problem and it is found to be unrelated to social class or development level of a country, in terms of amount of affected people, incapacitations, premature death, as well as the costs involved in the control and treatment of its complications. The incidence of the disease and its prevalence can be seen in epidemic proportions, affecting the population aged between 30 and 70 years, and being the fourth cause of death in the world, classified as one of the most frequent chronic diseases. Currently, there are nearly 120 million diabetics in the planet and it is estimated that until 2025 there will be nearly 300 million. This amount, along with the complexity of its treatment - such as diet restrictions added to the use of medicines and chronic complications associated, indicates the need of effective health education programs and informative processes associated to the public health services. The changes in behavior are indispensable, so that the control and treatment of DM are successful, and these are made possible through educational programs with the main goal to provide a greater support for treatment and control of the disease. The present study identified the attributions and importance of the nursing professional in the main complications present in the patients, during the prevention and treatment of Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic nephropathy, which comes from it. The developed work is an exploratory study, made through bibliographical research, and it was made with the available literature and systematized using the scientific pedagogic strategy, for instance the construction of the informative folder about pathology, aiming awareness and education through its distribution, reaching health professionals and patients. Based on the investigations of all the content, it is finally considered that it is of major importance to bring up the difficulties showed on the patients with DM and its developments, their caregivers, as well as obtain a good metabolic control that is generally closely related to the ingestion of an adequate diet, regular physical exercise and following the prescribed drug therapy. The lack of knowledge of the disease, both from caregivers and the patients themselves, associated to the inadequate capacitation and integration among health professionals are directly related to adherence to public or private health programs and the care in the daily routine. It is important to highlight that it is still necessary to conduct more specific studies to identify the effective pedagogic and educational aspects promoting the motivation and adhesion of these patients to the intervention programs, improving their health and life quality.