Clinical Topics - Endocrinology

Empowered approaches for Type 1 Diabetes patient care in Canada

Empowered approaches for Type 1 Diabetes patient care in Canada

Tags: diabetes

Diabetes diagnoses have skyrocketed in Canada the last two decades. Diabetes Canada released updated numbers in 2022 showing that 11.7 Million Canadians are living with Diabetes or PreDiabetes. These numbers are trending upwards with no sign of leveling off. Right now, more than $50 million dollars is spent every day on health care to treat diabetes and related complications. 

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The Subtle Art of Connecting with Patients: Lessons Learned from a Seasoned Diabetes Nurse

The Subtle Art of Connecting with Patients: Lessons Learned from a Seasoned Diabetes Nurse

Tags: connecting with patients diabetes diabetic patients

The thing about patients is that they are humans filled with feelings. Even the ones who appear tough and stoic on the exterior; sometimes they're the hardest. Every patient is a person, a person who has decades of life experience. Just because we are trained in Nursing, doesn't automatically give us license to be authorities. You have to earn it. You have to earn that trust. You have to listen, really hear, and pay very close attention. There is a distinct art to inviting people to relate to you, and to enable them to trust you with their healthcare, their vitality, their life. It's a gift when you can connect with a patient. It is an honour. At the end of the shift after truly helping a person, a Nurse can hold their head high and know that they've made a difference. That's the sweet spot, that's the altruism of making a difference.

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Does Medicare cover diabetes?

Does Medicare cover diabetes?

Tags: diabetes

Having diabetes can be challenging even without taking cost into account. It's important to know what Medicare covers and what it doesn't regarding diabetes.

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Sheehan Syndrome: What every woman should know

Sheehan Syndrome: What every woman should know

Tags: hemorrhage morbidity pituitary postpartum pregnancy Sheehan Syndrome women womens disease

Sheehan Syndrome (SS) is associated with postpartum decreased functioning of the pituitary. Severe postpartum hemorrhage results in decreased blood supply to the pituitary leading to necrosis. The process leads to hypopituitarism, and subsequent decreased pituitary hormones. Deficiency of pituitary hormones manifest in a host of disorders which can cause high morbidity in women or even death.

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Diabetes revisited: A review of the history, the current state of medical management and what the future may hold

Diabetes revisited: A review of the history, the current state of medical management and what the future may hold

Tags: diabetes diabetic patients stem cell research

This article reviews the history of Diabetes, the present day medical management, and research designed to control Type I Diabetes.

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Diabetes Insipidus

Diabetes Insipidus

Tags: ADH DI Diabetes Insipidus vasopressin

Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is a deficiency response to the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) also known as vasopressin. There are two types of vasopressin (V) receptors known as V1 and V2 in which the V1 receptors located in the vascular smooth muscles cause vasoconstriction whereas V2 receptors located on the tubular cells of the cortical collecting duct control the reabsorption of water via the kidneys. DI effects the renal mechanisms of the water reabsorption which is particularly imperative for maintaining body fluid osmolality. Edification that medication management is available in conjunction with readily accessible liquids at all times to replenish the enormous losses that occur through urination in addition to enforcement that this disease can easily turn to life threatening if not managed properly.

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Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: The Question for Treatment

Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: The Question for Treatment

Tags: adults asymptomatic bacteriuria diabetes guidelines risk factors screening

To improve the quality of care in patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria to promote safety.

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Managing Type II Diabetes within the Hispanic Community

Managing Type II Diabetes within the Hispanic Community

Tags: culture diabetes disease health patient education

Diabetes is termed the life style disease for good reason. It is a progressive and chronic illness largely caused by obesity and lack of exercise. If left untreated or poorly controlled, this disease can lead to debilitating complications and premature death.

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Basics on Inpatient Blood Sugar Control

Basics on Inpatient Blood Sugar Control

Tags: blood diabetes health

Controlling inpatient blood sugars is challenging and complex. Inpatient blood sugars can be affected by a multitude a variables. Some of the variables are nutritional intake, inflammation, stress and steroids. Research indicates more than 50% of Americans could have diabetes or pre-diabetes by the year 2020. Healthcare costs for this population both inpatient and outpatient is enormous and growing. Many of these patients will require hospitalization. Inpatient diabetes treatment can be complex but the outcome enhancement is great. Improving inpatient blood sugar control decreases both complications and mortality. Controlling the blood sugars of this growing patient population is well worth the investment of time and resources.

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The Reality of Diabetes in Rural Mexico: A Nursing Student Perspective

The Reality of Diabetes in Rural Mexico: A Nursing Student Perspective

Tags: diabetes mexico nursing perspective student students

Students from six universities in Canada, Mexico, and the USA participated in a service learning exchange. In order to understand the needs of diabetes patients in rural Mexico three students from Canada and the USA trudged in the heat through the rough terrain to their homes. We used Omaha System signs/symptoms to collect interview data. The standardized language of the questionnaire allowed us to be aware of the interaction between traditional medical beliefs and the western medical model. Some of these challenges include maintaining the traditional family roles, controlling blood glucose levels without the appropriate medical equipment, and economic barriers. One patient was responsible for both caring for her eight young children and working in the fields to put food on the table. Additionally, she was in a constant hypoglycemic state causing her to faint in the fields. We also visited a visually impaired man that was distraught because he needed to rely on others for help in a machismo society. He said “While living in New York City, I was a victim of a robbery. I was so afraid because I thought I was going to die and as a result I got diabetes.” Though some may find this comment strange, it is a common theory among the rural population in Mexico. We will always remember the many Mexican speculate that eating bread absorbs the scare and thus prevents diabetes. This experience gave us a glimpse of the harsh reality that these people face everyday coping with diabetes.

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Healthy Cooking for the Soul

Healthy Cooking for the Soul

Tags: Community Health Education Community Health Nursing cooking diabetes Health Promotion Healthy Nursing Education Research undergraduate

The purpose of this pilot study was to use motivation and coaching strategies to encourage Detroit African-American adults who are at high risk for hypertension and diabetes to change their dietary patterns. Oakland University Accelerated BSN (ABSN) student nurses designed and implemented the project to bring health coaching to the urban Indian Village community. Interventions included nutrition presentations and healthy soul-food cooking demonstrations. Information about program effectiveness was obtained through surveys. Survey scores increased for ninety percent of the participants from pre to posttest, indicating a corresponding increase in nutrition awareness. Future research is needed to determine the long-term effectiveness of the intervention strategies. The Healthy Cooking pilot project has the potential to facilitate research that will educate nursing students as well as citizens of Detroit's Indian Village.

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Getting a Foothold in the Nephronic Syndrome: Dietary Adjustments for the Chronic Hypertensive Type two Diabetic-Nephropathy Patients

Getting a Foothold in the Nephronic Syndrome: Dietary Adjustments for the Chronic Hypertensive Type two Diabetic-Nephropathy Patients

Tags: advice diabetes dietary adjustments eating habits hypertensive metabolic disease type two diabetic

Moderate and/or severe protein restrictions may indeed, be proposed in chronic renal failure both to fight its symptoms and to slow its progression. In diabetic patients, whether insulin-dependent or non-insulin-dependent, have a chronic disease that has generally existed for a number of years before the onset of renal failure.

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Managing Diabetic Patients on Dialysis: The Nurse and Practitioners Role in Multidisciplinary Team Essentials 

Managing Diabetic Patients on Dialysis: The Nurse and Practitioners Role in Multidisciplinary Team Essentials 

Tags: care diabetic patients dialysis health nurses role

The chronic state of diabetes mellitus (DM) mainly type II, is an increasingly common cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in all countries, accounting for 51% of dialysis patients in the U.S. and 39% in Europe. Patient survival is much worse than for non-diabetic patients, with a large proportion of patients dying within the first 3 months of dialysis (excluded from USRDS data). In North America, chronic diabetes (e.g., poorly controlled), has shown as a major cause of death associated with cardiovascular diseases. Usually the outcome is better for transplanted patients.

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The Importance of Communication and Education toward Patient Literacy: The Relationship of Functional Health and Patient’s Knowledge of Their Chronic Disease and Metabolic Disorder

The Importance of Communication and Education toward Patient Literacy: The Relationship of Functional Health and Patient’s Knowledge of Their Chronic Disease and Metabolic Disorder

Tags: aging assessment skills clear with simplified language communication communicator diabetes direct involvement disease educator efficiency of care health health literacy knowledge patient patient education

The aging populations in the U.S. with ‘Essential’ Hypertension are showing inadequate health literacy, plus its impact on patients with idiopathic chronic diseases such as type II, adult onset Diabetes Mellitus are makeable. To identify among patients with hypertension and/or with diabetes the relationship between their functional health literacy levels, and the role of the registered nurse as communicator and educator.

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Thyroid Storm and the AACN Synergy Model

Thyroid Storm and the AACN Synergy Model

Tags: aacn Case Study crisis critical care hypermetabolic storm synergy thyroid

Thyroid storm, or thyrotoxic crisis is a rare, but critical hypermetabolic state requiring emergent treatment.

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