I picked the topic of type 1 diabetes in children because someone near and dear to my own heart has type 1 diabetes. I included with my topic the idea of children with type 1 diabetes in school because as a future educator it is important to be knowledgeable about this specific health impairment in the school setting. My friend Brandon was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the young age of six. Now at the age of twelve, I have been granted a first-hand experience into understanding what diabetes is and how Brandon personally manages it. I have seen how magnificent Brandon’s school has been for him. They have professionals lined up for the school day and beyond, to assist with creating a safe environment for him with strong communication to …show more content…
Brandon’s family. Brandon’s older brother Tyler, has worked with JDRF, to raise awareness about type 1 diabetes. Tyler’s dream is finding a cure for his baby brother. I stand with Brandon’s older brother in the hopes of finding a cure for all children who suffer from type 1 diabetes and pursuing efforts to make school a safe environment for these children. One of the main goals for every school, is striving for an environment that is safe for their students. For students with type 1 diabetes, it is vital that they have an environment that understands their health impairment, while realizing what assistance must be available. The school is typically the second most visited location after the home, which makes it crucial that the school is safe for their students with type 1 diabetes. According to Silverstein et al., “It is essential that children with diabetes receive the needed support and assistance required to perform [daily injection of insulin] in the school setting with minimal disruption of their education (Silverstein et al., 2009). Some students with type 1 diabetes may need more assistance based on their own maturity compared to others, but it is required for all these students to have a professional in the school building for assistance at a moment’s notice. Spiegel, Evert, and Shea states, “All children with type 1 diabetes must take insulin for survival” (Spiegel, et al., 2009). Without the natural insulin being reproduced in the child’s body by the pancreas, it can be deadly if a child does not receive their insulin in a due time. Professionals in the school building can be a support system in protecting their students’ overall health and wellbeing especially for their students with type 1 diabetes. Silverstein et al. describes, “The school nurse is responsible for coordinating school-based diabetes care” (Silverstein et al., 2009). Teachers must be knowledgeable about which student has diabetes so they allow the student to leave to go to the nurse’s office or get a drink of water when needed. Teachers can create a trust system with the student with type 1 diabetes with mutual understanding that if the student needs to leave the classroom, they don’t need to ask permission every single time. This allows the student with type 1 diabetes to feel self-confident because the teacher trusts and understands what their needs are. This system also allows the other students in the classroom to be unaware when this particular student leaves the room frequently. With providing a safe environment for students with type 1 diabetes, professionals must be confident in caring for these students.
According to Julie Wagner and Amy James who created a study to see how many professionals in the school building know of students with diabetes, “A majority 83% reported that there were children with diabetes in their schools; however, some 14% indicated that they did not know if there were children with diabetes in their schools” (Wagner & James, 2006). In the school building, professionals must have the background knowledge of their students to know who possibly has type 1 diabetes and who does not. This knowledge gives the best care and understanding because then the professionals in the school building will feel confident in their own caring abilities for these students. Smith et al. states, “Protection at school exists for students with diabetes to ensure that they receive the same education as their peers under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which considers diabetes as a disability” (Smith et al., 2012). This means that the school is required to have accommodations ready for students with diabetes in place that do not interfere with their education goals, and to verify that they are receiving the same education as everyone else. This information will allow the professionals to uphold this law for all students especially focusing on the ones who have diabetes. With the knowledge …show more content…
background of type 1 diabetes, professionals will feel confident in caring for these students. Children who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes can feel a wide range of emotions after receiving their diagnoses.
Some may not understand to the full extent exactly what their body is going through, while others may feel depressed, anxious, or have low self-esteem. In the school setting, it can be difficult for children with type 1 diabetes to feel understood, valued and treated fairly by their peers and teachers. Children with diabetes may suffer from mild deficits due to the side effects that the disease can place on the cognitive activities of their brain. According to Cammarata et al., “Some mild deficits in verbal intelligence, attention, memory and executive functioning have been noted…” (Cammarate et al., 2009). Teachers must be aware of these mild learning disabilities that may be shown in the classroom, so they can assist students with type 1 diabetes receiving the extra tools to be successful. In the school setting, professionals need to always encourage their students with type 1 diabetes that they can still participate in any activity that their peers can do. With managing children’s diabetes in school with the help of professionals, the students with type 1 diabetes will be given the same experience in all school activities just like any other student. According to Silverstein et al., “The goals of diabetes management in school are to optimize the education experience of the student; promote normal growth, development and socialization…” (Silverstein et al.,
2009). By providing these services as listed above, students with type 1 diabetes will be provided with a safe environment to learn, grow, and succeed fully alongside their peers. A relationship that needs to be strongly established with a student with type 1 diabetes is between the child, parent, and the school nurse. Outside of school, the parent is the core provider in understanding and helping their child manage their diabetes. As stated by Silverstein et al., “The school nurse is responsible for coordinating school-based diabetes care. The school has the skills, knowledge base and statutory authority to meet the health care needs of the student” (Silverstein et al., 2009). Establishing trust and advising the nurse of everything that is known about a specific child’s type 1 diabetes, is the effective way to ensure that proper care is met. Cammarata et al. states, “Psychosocial acceptance and adaption to the illness can impact long term adjustment for both children with diabetes and their families…children are most likely to have feelings of separation anxiety due to heavy reliance on parental care” (Cammarate et al., 2009). Encouraging the child with diabetes while also encouraging the parents to fully trust the school nurse (who will be providing most of the school based care), is efficient ways to allow both parties to feel peace with this specific child receiving the best care while at school. Once a child with diabetes feels confident in their own abilities to help themselves, it will remove the stress parents feel with allowing their child and others to aid in their daily health care. Establishing a health plan with the child, school, family, and health team will outline what is expected of each party. As Silverstein et al. describes, the Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP) should outline the following and additional information date of diagnosis, emergency plan, meal and snack plan, student’s abilities to perform self-management at school etc. (Silverstein et al., 2009) For education majors, the articles showed how crucial it is for an educator to be knowledgeable about what diabetes is, understand exactly the situation of a particular student, their personal DMMP, and the best assistance that is available. The articles were an eye-opening realization that a teacher has a high probable chance to have a student with type 1 diabetes sometime during their career. As stated by JDRF, 200,000 youth in the U.S are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (JDRF, 2017). The odds of having a student with type 1 diabetes in my own classroom is very high which makes this information crucial to understand. My overall takeaway was the realization of how vital the school can be on the life of a child with type 1 diabetes. The school is the second home for many children which is frightening for parents who have children with type 1 diabetes who worry if their child will be safe without them. Professionals in the school building especially the nurse must have complete knowledge and understanding of what diabetes is and which children has that health impairment. I learned my role in facilitating this safe school environment for these children when I am a teacher possibly with students with diabetes in my own classroom. There must be communication between multiple parties to make certain that the child with type 1 diabetes is receiving the same education as their peers with assistance in their daily self-health routines. My hope is that schools continue to progress in becoming safe and understanding environments by all who enter the school building in treating those with type 1 diabetes with respect. I learned how important the school is for students with type 1 diabetes in gaining their own self-confidence in helping themselves and creating the realization for the child that type 1 diabetes does not define or limit their ability to dream and succeed.
My patient Hannah is a 10 year old 4th grade student who loves volleyball and was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. I’m going to explain to you what her disorder is, the signs and symptoms, causes of this disorder, body changes, economic impact, and how she will manage this disorder especially at such a young age.
Case study: Carol is 17 years old and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 7 years. Carol has had a recent hospital admission for dehydration and high blood glucose. During the admission Carol was found to be 6 weeks pregnant. Prior to the admission she had been experiencing weight loss and changes in mood.
Diabetes education is a structured education and self-management (at diagnosis and regularly reviewed and reinforced) to promote awareness. Diet and lifestyle, healthy diet, weight loss if the person is overweight, smoking cessation, regular physical exercise. Maximizing glucose control while minimizing adverse effects of treatment such as hypoglycemia. Reduction of other risk factors for complications of diabetes, including the early detection and management of hypertension, drug treatment to modify lipid levels and consideration of antiplatelet therapy with aspirin. Early intervention for complications of diabetes,, including cardiovascular disease, feet problems, eye problems, kidney problems and neuropathy.
Diabetes is a chronic disorder of metabolism characterized by a partial or complete deficiency of the hormone insulin. With this, there are metabolic adjustments that occur everywhere in the body. Specific to this child is Type One Diabetes. This is characterized by demolition of the pancreatic beta cells, which produce insulin. Because of this, it leads to complete insulin deficiency. Within Type One diabetes, there are two different forms. First there is immune-mediated deficiency, which typically results from an autoimmune destruction of the beta cells. The second type is called idiopathic type one, in which the cause is unknown. (Wong, Hockenberry, Wilson, 2015)
As you may or may not already know, diabetes is a non-communicable disease. Learning about diabetes interests me because my grandmother and grandfather are both diabetic. I see what they go through every day with pricking their finger, injecting insulin and watching what they eat. It seems to be a hassle, but for them- it’s their life.
Diabetes is becoming an epidemic. In fact, in 10 years many experts believe that people who suffer from diabetic is going to double. Kids who are as young as 8 years old are now borderline type 2 diabetics.
Interestingly no significant differences were identified between the experimental and comparison groups in terms of knowledge, adaptation, and program satisfaction. However, diabetes self-care activities significantly improved (p = .02) for the experimental group (p. 316).
Specific purpose: To inform my audience about what diabetes is, what causes this condition and its health effects.
During one of my rotations, I was assigned a young adult patient who had run out of insulin and had been admitted to the hospital following a Diabetes Ketoacidosis (DKA) episode. I realized that my patient was probably torn between buying insulin and buying healthy food because her chart showed several admissions in the past following the same problems. This particular patient was in her room, isolated in a corner, and she was irritable. As her student nurse, I was actively involved in her care; I was her advocate for the day. The patient lived with her single mother and worked at a fast food restaurant. Since this was my first time dealing with a patient with DKA, it became a definite challenge for me.
This cause me to ask questions, “Why me?” Why is this disease a real thing. Why am I different? As I grew older, I started to see how I was different than most children my age. I was diabetic, but that was not all, I was more of an adult than other children. I had so many responsibilities to deal with because of being diabetic. As I felt I had grew up fast, meant I thought I didn't need help because I could do anything, yet you need help to grow. As it became summer, it had been a year of having diabetes. I went to camp. Camp Joslin which is a summer camp for children with diabetes. Honestly is was very bizarre to think that everyone there had something in common. I had never been around so many diabetics in my life. We all had to test their blood sugar and take insulin. For the week I was there, everyone was the same. It gave me a sense of being like everyone else. I got a chance that none of my friends got, to go to camp Joslin. I was thankful and happy. As I continued to grow older and went to high school, I was still different. I began to realize that being different wasn’t really a curse, but it was a gift. I came to the conclusion that even when life is hard, you can always handle it. The question “Why me?”, does not solve your
Type 1 diabetes, is an incurable but treatable disease which can occur at any age but is mostly found in children due to the high levels of glucose in the blood (Eckman 2011). Juvenile diabetes affects about 1 in every 400-600 children and more than 13,000 are diagnosed yearly (Couch 2008). Type 1 Diabetes means your blood glucose, or blood sugar, is too high. With Type 1 diabetes, your pancreas does not make insulin. Insulin is a hormone, which helps glucose gets into your cells to provide energy. Without insulin, too much glucose stays in your blood. Over time, high blood glucose can lead to serious problems with your heart, eyes, kidneys, nerves, gums and teeth (American Diabetes Association). Previous research has suggested proper insulin management, a balanced diet and exercise will help maintain glycemic control and lessen the chance of complications (Couch 2008).
Diabetes is a common disease, which can be a serious, life-long illness caused by high levels of glucose in the blood. This condition is when the body cannot produce insulin or lack of insulin production from the beta cells in the islet of Langerhans in the pancreas. Diabetes can cause other health problems over time. Eye, kidneys, and nerves can get damaged and chances of stroke are always high. Because of the serious complications, the purposes of teaching a plan for diabetes patients are to optimize blood glucose control, optimize quality of life, and prevent chronic and potentially life-threatening complications.
The authors go on to say that these individuals who were struggling with managing their diabetes felt that the disease process was too complex to understand. Also, they felt that seeing images of how diabetes affects the body’s organ systems seemed to help them better understand than by reading a traditional textbook (Hill et al., 2015). This leads one to think that if the participants in the study could have stayed in school longer, perhaps they could have honed in on the ways to study that helped them best succeed. Maybe they would have realized they were visual learners who needed images or models and this could have lined them up for success in later life. So at this point in their lives, it is important to provide them with the aides that will best prepare them to be educated about their disease, such as information with pictures of body systems affected by diabetes like the eyes and kidneys. This is not meant to offend the learner, but it becomes more of an individualized plan to help one
There are multiple different types of disabilities that a student can have. They can have something physically wrong with them but not have anything mentally wrong. A student can have something mentally wrong, but nothing physically wrong. Depending on the situation this could be simply just a learning disability or something more severe. If there is something medically wrong with a student they will be placed on a plan as well. Why should this affect the way a student learns?
Point blank, diabetes is a serious disease and causes major effects on people’s daily lives. In a society where food comes in such abundance, people are overeating. Compared to the beginning of the twenty first century when only about five percent of the population had diabetes (Nazarko, 2009), today that number is rising and continuing to do so. This is starting to affect the health of children by being diagnosed with diabetes at a young age. When a child has diabetes it becomes very serious since children are at such a young age to deal...