Chronic Disease Management
It is the ongoing treatment and support cycle of patients living with chronic diseases. The types of chronic diseases covered by chronic disease management programs include heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, and many more chronic diseases. The management of chronic diseases involves providing medical care, resources, knowledge, and skills to patients to help them control their conditions daily. Management may be carried out through community services or primary care providers.
A substantial proportion of the elderly face at least one chronic disease. Eight out of 10 older adults in the US are estimated to have at least one chronic disease, while 50% of these adults have at least two chronic diseases. Based on these statistics, chronic disease management is important to older adults since they are the group who are impacted greatly by chronic diseases as compared with other age groups.
I identified Enhance Wellness online self-management platform targeted at older adults with chronic diseases. The program aims at promoting the health and functioning of older adults with chronic diseases who are at risk of declining functionality. It identifies potential risks that can be modified which may lead to disability. It then promotes behavior change to try and reverse the identified risk factors. The program connects patients to a nurse and a community health worker who helps in designing a behavior change plan and provide support and encouragement. The primary goal of the program is to promote health and increase the functionality of older adults with chronic diseases. Results of the program include an increase in physical activity, decreased depression, decreased hospital visits, and decreased use of psychoactive drugs. The link to the program is https://projectenhance.org/