Answer 3 for DNP 810 Identify a health issue that has been positively influenced by nutrition in your clinic

Nutrition has significantly impacted hypertension in patients at our healthcare facility. Patients diagnosed with hypertension in the clinic are referred to the clinical nutritionist who educates them about the DASH diet, which effectively lowers hypertension. The DASH diet encourages a high consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and moderate amounts of low-fat dairy products, lean meat, nuts, seeds, dry beans, fats, and oils. Patients are advised to have low consumption of red meat, salt, cholesterol and saturated fat, sweets, and sweetened drinks (Koehler & Drenowatz, 2019). The DASH diet has significantly reduced the number of patients with pre-hypertension who advance to stages 1 and 2 hypertension. Furthermore, it has helped maintain patients’ blood pressure below 140/90 and promoted weight loss, lowering the incidence of hypertension complications and comorbidities. Nutrition plays a major role in health and development. Good nutrition is associated with strong immunity and a low risk of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (Shahid & Bishop, 2019). Malnutrition occurs in two forms, undernutrition (due to inadequate intake of nutrients) and overweight (excessive caloric intake). Individuals who observe healthy nutritional practices have a low risk of developing NCDs like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. The DNP-nurse can utilize this information in practice by educating patients and their families about healthy dietary practices to promote good nutrition. The nurse can assess patients with malnutrition and offer nutritional counseling on the nutrients they should increase or reduce in their diet to attain healthy nutrition (Koehler & Drenowatz, 2019). Besides, the nurse can apply the information in managing patients with lifestyle diseases by educating them on dietary habits they need to adopt to promote weight loss and achieve optimal blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

References

Koehler, K., & Drenowatz, C. (2019). Integrated Role of Nutrition and Physical Activity for Lifelong Health. Nutrients, 11(7), 1437. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11071437 Shahid, S. M., & Bishop, K. S. (2019). Comprehensive Approaches to Improving Nutrition: Future Prospects. Nutrients, 11(8), 1760. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081760