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Diabetes Mellitus
Being newly diagnosed with diabetes mellitus can be overwhelming and confusing due to the several things that a patient needs to learn and understand. However, for millions of diabetic patients learning about their diabetes is the first step towards living a longer and healthier life. According to Shaw (2014), Registered Nurses (RNs) play an important role of educating individuals that have just been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus encouraging them that they can live longer if they follow important guidelines for managing diabetes.
First, the RN should let the patient understand what type 1 diabetes is and how its symptoms present by highlighting the classic symptoms associated with diabetes mellitus such as excessive thirst and hunger, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, nausea, and vomiting. She should encourage the patient that he is not the only one suffering from type I diabetes.
Most youth with type 1 diabetes do not adhere to clinical guidelines (Wood et al, 2013). Therefore, the nurse can use examples of patients of almost similar age to the patient and are coping well with diabetes mellitus. The nurses should also explain to the patient that insulin injections are the central treatment for type I diabetes and for the patient to lead a quality life she should adhere to her medication.
For proper management of type I diabetes, some of the factors that the RN should focus on mainly includes control of blood glucose, insulin management, nutrition, exercise, and support (Atkinson, Eisenbarth & Michels, 2014). The nurse should advise the patient to measure his blood glucose levels regularly and administer insulin appropriately. Exercise on the other hand is a significant component of proper care for type I diabetes as it aids the body to respond with more stable levels of blood glucose (Haas et al., 2013).
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However, patients should be cautioned against extreme exercise which lowers their glucose levels considerably. Additionally, the nurse should aid the patient understand how various foods affect blood glucose and enlighten them on how to come up with solid meal plans (Chiang et al., 2014). She should also encourage the patient to seek help from other people with the same condition and be free to visit the medical center in case of any clarification.
The steps of the teaching learning process that were most likely not well employed are the implementation and the evaluation steps. In the implementation step, the nurse should have delivered content in a manner that is more organized with the aid of planned teaching strategies. The evaluation step could be improved if the nurse questioned the patient on some aspects such as why insulin is important in management of type I diabetes and more so the rationale of giving it as an injection instead of pills.
References
Atkinson, M. A., Eisenbarth, G. S., & Michels, A. W. (2014). Type 1 diabetes. The Lancet, 383(9911), 69-82.
Chiang, J. L., Kirkman, M. S., Laffel, L. M., & Peters, A. L. (2014). Type 1 diabetes through the life span: A position statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care, 37(7), 2034-2054.
Haas, L., Maryniuk, M., Beck, J., Cox, C. E., Duker, P., Edwards, L., … & McLaughlin, S. (2013). National standards for diabetes self-management education and support. Diabetes care, 36(Supplement 1), S100-S108.
Shaw, R. J., McDuffie, J. R., Hendrix, C. C., Edie, A., Lindsey-Davis, L., Nagi, A., … & Williams, J. W. (2014). Effects of nurse-managed protocols in the outpatient management of adults with chronic conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of internal medicine, 161(2), 113-121.
Wood, J. R., Miller, K. M., Maahs, D. M., Beck, R. W., DiMeglio, L. A., Libman, I. M., … & T1D Exchange Clinic Network. (2013). Most youth with type 1 diabetes in the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry do not meet American Diabetes Association or International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes clinical guidelines. Diabetes care, 36(7), 2035-2037.
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