I have a very personal interest in diabetes care. At the beginning of the year my other half (my man in uniform) was diagnosed type 1 diabetic. He was 29 and this came as a huge shock to all of us. The repercussions of his diagnosis shook our whole family.
Prior to this the patients I encountered with diabetes were just that, patients with diabetes. I have to confess being less than interested in it as an illness.
That very quickly changed as my man in uniform recovered and I realised the inadequacies in care for patients with diabetes.
As part of my final year assignments I developed an information leaflet about the use of blood ketone meters to recognise patients with diabetic ketoacidosis. This development would enable the timely and accurate recognition of dka v's simple hyperglycaemia )
So on my first day on the ward I should not of been surprised to find a potentially fatal insulin prescription error. A patient had been prescribed a massive dose of insulin and a nurse had signed that this had been administered. Thankfully we have an amazing team of diabetic specialist nurses who quickly arrived and set about rectifying the situation (needless to say I didn't give the insulin).
What depressed me even more was the discovery that this was not an isolated incident.
I spoke with the patient who was able to tell me his exact insulin regime and thankfully informed us he had been self administering so had not received the entire vial of the rapid acting insulin he had been prescribed.
The lesson I take from this is: if you are diabetic the chances are you manage your medication independently when not in hospital- if this is the case please please speak up when in hospital. YOU are the expert and the health professional should (whenever appropriate) take their lead from you
(Please excuse any typo's in this post- typing on my iPhone!)
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