JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background According to chronic disease monitoring and a diabetes-specific survey, the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese adults is 11.6% (approximately 113.9 million cases). In order to enhance the performance of healthcare institutions, reduce overmedicalization, and minimize the waste of medical resources, China is committed to implementing a clinical pathway management model. This model aims to standardize nursing practices, cultivate nurses' clinical thinking, and promote patient recovery. The "National Nursing Program Combined with Clinical Pathways" nursing model explored in this study reflects a close integration of "national standards & nursing pathways." It is based on nursing assessment, care planning, disease observation, safety management, appropriate traditional Chinese medicine techniques, psychological care, and health education. These components play a significant role in improving patient compliance, awareness, treatment rates, control rates, and overall quality of life in medical follow-ups. Method This study employed a prospective, randomized, single-blind, parallel-controlled research design. According to sample size calculations, the plan was to include 594 diabetic patients, with 297 patients in each group. The observation group received traditional Chinese nursing care, while the control group received conventional nursing care. Both groups were assessed before and after the nursing intervention, with evaluation indicators including: hospitalization duration, medical expenses, knowledge of health, blood glucose control, symptom scores, quality of life questionnaire scores, and patient satisfaction. Discussion This study aims to integrate existing national standardized nursing protocols and clinical nursing pathways to implement more efficient and higher-quality clinical nursing practices. It seeks to standardize nursing procedures, improve patients' quality of life, and promote self-care and medication compliance after discharge.