Teaching a Diabetic about the Importance of Not Skipping Meals, Food Groups to Avoid, & Avoiding Alcohol After spending 4 clinical days in the hospital I realize how many patients have diabetes. As a nurse, I believe it is very important to know how to educate the diabetic patients as to the guidelines they should follow at home on the foods they should be eating and avoiding. In addition I believe it is important for the nurse to know what foods the patient should and should not be eating in the hospital. This teaching plan is going to focus on a general guideline of a diet for a patient with diabetes. As of 2011 25.8 million children and adults in the United States, 8.3% of the population, have diabetes. Proper education is essential to helping these people live normal, healthy lives without incidents related to their condition. The patient, Linda, is in the hospital because she was severely hypoglycemic after a night of binge drinking with her friends. She is a 21 year old female patient that frequently binge drinks and skips meals due to her hectic schedule. I am going to teach the patient about: * The importance of not skipping meals * What food groups she should and shouldn’t be eating * The effect alcohol will have on her diabetes
Nurse: Hi Linda, I just want to speak with you about living with diabetes and how managing your diet is so import to keeping your diabetes in check. Could you tell me about your normal eating pattern on a day to day basis?
Patient: Well I am in college and I have a really hectic schedule. I usually wake up and don’t have time for breakfast because I have to rush to class. For lunch I usually just get a bag of chips and a soda out of the vending machine. For dinner I usually eat McDonalds because it right next to my apartment but sometimes I skip dinner too.
Nurse: OK Linda, you realize with diabetes, what you eat and don’t eat has a substantial effect on