CHAPTER 8 Endocrine System^363
NURSING INTERVENTION
- Educate the patient about:
- The disease and the importance of maintaining normal glucose levels.
- Demonstrate blood glucose monitoring.
- Diet and food choices, including portion sizes.
- Encourage exercise.
- Discuss coping skills to reduce stress.
- Teach self-injection of insulin (Type I).
- Urge smoking cessation.
- Self-care.
- Acute management.
- Prevention of complications, such as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.
- Teach importance of daily medications.
- Explain hypoglycemia signs and symptoms and interventions.
- Sweating, lethargy, confusion, hunger, dizziness, weakness (Type I).
- Teach the management of hypoglycemia: glucose tablets, or 4 ounces of
fruit juice, several hard candies, or a small amount of a carbohydrate. - Explain the signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia: fatigue, headache, blurry
vision, dry itchy skin. - Teach the management of hyperglycemia: a change in medication or
dosage, increase in regular exercise, more careful food intake and meal
planning, an increase in the number of fingersticks, discussion with the
MD/NP/PA. - Teach glucagon injection for hypoglycemic events.
Metabolic Syndrome
(Syndrome X/Dysmetabolic Syndrome)
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Patients have a collection of symptoms that include high blood glucose, obesity,
high blood pressure, and high triglycerides based on family history. Beta cells in
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