Question

The RN is caring for a 30-year-old violinist who makes his living as a touring concert artist. While on a concert tour, he fainted on stage, was taken to a hospital and subsequently diagnosed with Type I Diabetes Mellitus. The RN is teaching the patient about self-monitoring of blood glucose, dietary considerations and insulin injections. The patient tells the RN that he cannot possibly manage this regimen, since he spends a lot of his life “on airplanes and on stages.”

Discuss an approach the RN can take to assist this patient to understand his disease and comply with treatment.

What factors would the RN need to consider?

How might the regimen need to be adapted, based on this patient’s lifestyle?

Answer 1

RN has to make the patient aware about his condition, that what is the disesase here type 1 DM . She has to explain that it is a life long disease it can not be curable but it can be managble and all. And what happen in this condition like here the beta cells which produce insulin are damaged and there is no insulin with out insulin the cells can not take glucose and because of this blood sugar increases..

RN needs to consider the factors like the patients life styles habbits and how he can be able to take the medicines at right times etc because it is life long disease.

The patient should learn how to inject insulin by himself and the techniques like do not use the same area where time you inject and all. He always needs to carry his medications. If he travels in Van it is better to carry mini refrigerator to store insulin. Areoplanes are equiped with refrigerator he need to request the staff to keep them in Friz for him.

He should keep a reminder in his bussy schedule to not to miss a dose.