Diabetes: Case Study and Management Strategies

Running head: DIABETES
DIABETES
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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DIABETES
Introduction:
Diabetes is a form of disorder that mainly results in the rise of the blood glucose resulting in
failure of different other organs. The cells become unable to get appropriate amount of glucose from the
blood that is extremely necessary for the production of energy by the process of respiration. This is
mainly because the insulin, which is a hormone significant for the helping, the cells to take in glucose
decreases in amount or the cells become resistant to the acceptance of glucose from the blood. As a result,
the cells fail to produce energy that affects the working mechanisms of many organs (Butcher et al.,
2018). This may result in life threatening situations for the individuals who are suffering from the
disorder. Therefore, it becomes extremely important for the healthcare professionals to develop
interventions that would help the patients to overcome such situations and thereby lead better quality life.
Researchers are of the opinion that proper lifestyle interventions as well as effective following of
medications and its management may help in proper care of the patient and ensure safe life (Marques et
al. 2017). It is also important to educate the patients in ways by which they become aware of their
disorders and develops proper ideas about how to maintain themselves. This assignment would mainly
depict a case study of a patient who had been suffering from diabetes and the ways the professional can
help the patient to lead better quality life.
Case study:
A patient of 61 years old names Clara Mitchell was admitted to the ward after she had faced a fall
in the garden while she was watering her plants in the garden. She complained to her granddaughter that
she was feeling dizzy and she was feeling weak as well. Before her granddaughter could call her son, the
patient had fallen down resulting in bruises and cuts on the skin. After she was admitted to the healthcare
center, the nursing professionals conducted a diagnosis and found several other cuts and wounds on her
body that was ill maintained and was not healing properly. Moreover, her son complained that her mother
always used to remain confused about the medications and the insulin doses and even used to forget about

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taking the insulin on the right time. There had been many situations where the patient had forgotten to
take the medications and therefore took the insulin doses altogether. Besides, the patient often used to feel
thirsty and extremely fatigued. Her daughter in law had requested her to take walks and be physically
active but she complains that she is fatigued and does not feel like going outside houses. Her wounds are
giving her hard time as well. Moreover, her vision has become blurry for which she has lost her
confidence to take walks or even in driving which she used to like a lot. She had thereby isolated herself
and had got tired of the various issues that she is facing with her health. She remains depressed, as her
heavy weight had also made it difficult for her to be active and participate in social gatherings. She has a
BMI of 30 that gives her the status of obesity. The patient wanted the professionals to help her overcome
all the issues so that she can live a better quality life.
Analysis of the case study:
The nursing professionals need to conduct a critical analysis of the case study in order to collect
cues and thereby understand the main factors that had resulted in the situation of the patient in the case
study. It is extremely important for the nursing professionals to undertake clinical reason cycle so that
they can address the patient cues and symptoms, identify the contributing factors, relate them with the
pathophysiology of the disorders, identify the care priorities, develop the goals and action plans and
thereby help in providing the best care to the patients (Frauenfelder et al. 2018).
After the documentation of the medical history of the patients, the narratives of the family
members and identifying the cues from the physical condition of the patients, nurses need to develop
interventions and management programs that match with the requirements of the patient. After thorough
analysis, it was found that the main issue that had resulted the patient to fall is hypoglycemia. Symptoms
of hypoglycemia involve feeling of dizziness where patients complain about feeling blinded before
collapsing. Such issues were identified in the case of the patient and this was verified after conducting the
blood sugar level test (Fan and Sidani 2018). The blood sugar test was mainly conducted and it was found

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to be below 4.0 mmol/L. In case of the patient the blood glucose level test showed that the glucose level
of the patient’s blood was fallen below 3 mmol/L. therefore, it was seen that the patient was suffering
from low blood glucose level and it was important to understand what had led to the situation. Detailed
analysis revealed that the patient had actually forgotten to take the insulin injections at the right time and
therefore she had taken two insulin injections together when she suddenly remembered that she had
forgotten the previous insulin injection (Sapkota et al. 2015). She was completely not aware of her
condition and did not know the steps of taking medication, the effect of the medication and the dosage of
the medication and the harmful effects of the wrong doses of wrong procedures of the medication. This
could be attributed to the fact that she was not properly educated about her disorder of diabetes. She did
not know the details of the disorders and even complained that she becomes tired of taking the medication
as she is not aware why she as taking the medication (Moorhead et al. 2018). Therefore, one of the most
important care priorities that is required is helping the patient to develop health literacy about how to
manage the symptoms of diabetes effectively and thereby develop a detailed knowledge about how proper
lifestyle management would help her to overcome dangerous situations.
A number of other cues were also found that gave the idea that the patient was not being able to manage
her blood glucose levels effectively. It has been found in the patient that she was having several infected
wounds that were not healing for a long period. This is mainly because she was diabetes patient and she
was not being able to maintain her blood glucose levels effectively. Researchers are of the opinion that
diabetic patients suffer from issue of wound healing due to a number of factors (Kuipers et al. 2016).
High levels of blood glucose levels that mainly result from improperly managed diabetes can, over time,
affect the nerves of the patients. It can thereby lead to poor blood circulation and therefore it makes it
difficult for the blood that is extremely important for the skin repair to reach the different parts of the
body that are affected by the wounds. This results in the wounds to remain open making the wound stay
in unhealed situations for months (abubakari et al. 2016). Researchers are of the opinion that when
wounds remain open for long period and is not properly dressed, the skin is exposed to a number of the