Nursing Care Plans for Diabetes

"Peter is a retired lawyer and is living with his wife in an apartment owned by them, in North America. Recently, Peter got a heart attack due to severe diabetes. He was admitted in a nearby hospital because his wife's own health problems prevented her from taking care of her husband. However, the nursing home had some excellent nurses and Janice was one of them. The care, love and discipline Janice displayed in treating Peter, gradually improved his health. Nowadays, Peter can be seen on his regular morning walks along with his wife, laughing and smiling happily. They can't help but thank the nursing home, for having excellent staff like Janice."

The story highlights the importance of nursing care in a beautiful manner. The effort that the nursing home has taken in imparting the necessary skills to Janice, is evident when the patient returns home satisfied with the quality of her work. Don't take my words for granted, a good nurse is as important as a good doctor is and this should not be ignored at any cost. Let's discuss some guidelines for the nursing care plans for diabetes. Diabetes is usually of two types - Type 1 diabetes or Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and Type 2 diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Nursing Care Plan for Diabetes Mellitus: Tips

Monitoring the Patients
Within 7 days of admission to the hospital, all patients should have a mandatory urine test. On being tested positive, the diabetic cases must be referred to senior doctors or the respective doctors in charge. The areas that should be monitored by the nurses are glucose monitoring using blood glucose monitors, high or low blood pressure check ups, skin and foot care tests and dietary programs of the patient. In case the person is tested negative in the urine tests and he is still not recovering from other related symptoms of diabetes, he should be rechecked after few days or weeks.

Dealing with High Blood Pressure
Every patient has different history of past medical complications and so the blood pressure readings can vary significantly. If the patients with high blood pressure have a long history of drugs or smoking, they must be asked to quit. One can take the necessary help from hospital authorities, in order to stop the person from smoking. Report to the doctors regularly, about the blood pressure readings of the patient. Every patient has set targets for the blood pressure. If a patient has reached normal blood pressure readings, then consult the doctors and make the necessary changes in his nursing care plans.

Diet and Diabetes
The diet for a diabetic patient should be carefully planned. The nurse should monitor, that the patient is only eating food that is helpful in recovering him faster. Food such as potatoes, cereals and rice are an important part of diabetic diet and must be encouraged. All new patients must be consulted with a dietitian, before going for their dietary plans. The basal metabolic index for every patient must be tracked on a monthly basis and a record of the same must be kept for regular reference.

Managing the Medicines
The drugs and medicines should only be given by nurses, if they have been recommended by the doctor. Before giving the medicine to the patient, just as a precautionary measure, the nurse should check that the patient is taking the right medicines. Insulin dosage must be carefully administered by the nurse. Insulin medicines must be stored in refrigerators and must be taken out 20 minutes before they have to be given to the patient. The nurse should take care that the injection locations don't repeat daily. As different sites will have varied absorption ability, it is preferable to change the sites occasionally. A record of the different sites where the injections are given to the patient, must be maintained. For patients that have problems like hypoglycemia chronic fatigue, the nurse should be ready to face emergency situations, where the patient may show symptoms of dizziness and extreme fatigue. The nurse should be aware of the possible problems that a diabetic patient may face.

Other Guideposts For Nurses
The nurse can be a good source of information for the patient and also is his care taker. The nurse can advise and instruct the patients about exercises that are useful in diabetes. Exercises as we all know, can show improvements in blood pressure charts, reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases and enhance the mental state of the patient. Take care, that problems like continence and urinary tract infections (UTI) are not able to affect the patient and increase the complications. Also, gestational diabetes nursing care should be handled as an important issue, as it affects the mother during the time of embryo formation. The patient affected from gestational diabetes should be assisted constantly.

Good care requires planning and carefully analyzing the symptoms of the patient. A charming and friendly attitude with the patient is necessary, so that the patient gets the emotional support and can recover from the disease as early as possible. Nursing care plans for diabetes are meant to achieve a holistic health for the patient.