In: Nursing
Identify differences between resources and access to care, limitations etc related to minor care and adult care when it comes to Diabetes diagnosis?
Answer:-
Children have characteristics and needs that dictate different standards of care. The management of diabetes in children must take the major differences between children of various ages and adults into account. For example, insulin doses based only on body size are likely to be incorrect; the consequences of hypoglycemic events are distinctly different between adults and children; risks for diabetic complications are likely influenced by puberty; and the targets of education need to be adjusted to the age and developmental stage of the patient with diabetes and must include the parent or caregiver.
In caring for children with diabetes, professionals need to understand the importance of involving adults in the child’s diabetes management. Young children, including school-aged children, are unable to provide their own diabetes care, and middle school and high school students should not be expected to independently provide all of their own diabetes management care. Thus, the education about how to care for a child and adolescent with diabetes must be provided to the entire family unit, emphasizing age- and developmentally appropriate self-care and integrating this into the child’s diabetes management The goal should be a gradual transition toward independence in management through middle school and high school.
Type 1 diabetes – also known as “juvenile diabetes” presents most commonly in tweens aged 12-14, but also though young adulthood through the mid-20s. As soon as a person is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, they are placed on insulin, which they will have to take for the rest of their lives. With this diagnosis comes a great deal of education and counseling: not only does the child need to understand how their diet and meal frequency needs to change, they must become self-managing by learning to check blood sugar levels and to advocate for themselves when their parents cannot. Parents and guardians must also accept this paradigm shift by educating other family members on the many nuances of caring for a child with diabetes, offering healthy food options, working closely with other family members, babysitters, caregivers, and schools; and, most importantly, being supportive, available, and understanding with your child.
Adult diabetes – usually Type 2 – also requires lifestyle changes and education, but in this case, the disease is progressive and can be managed or even countered with proper attention and medical guidance. In fact, being pre-diabetic for an overweight or obese person might be enough justification for an insurance company to approve nutritional counseling or even weight-loss surgery.