Complications of Diabetes (Nursing)

00:01 Hi! Welcome to our video series on diabetes complications.

00:06 Now, you might be wondering why I'm smiling because this is the essence of nursing.

00:12 This is what we do.

00:13 This is why you study, this is why you put all the work in because it's our role to help people live their best life.

00:21 So yeah, we're going to talk about diabetes complications, but I want to talk about the humans that are behind it, because look at this, it's hard for me to find the motivation to try to memorize this and look at this, but let me introduce you to the person behind the risk of these complications.

00:41 We know that diabetes can it cause all these issues.

00:45 Strokes, eye disease, dental disease heart disease, kidney disease, bladder and sexual dysfunction, neuropathies, even losing limbs, but that's so lifeless.

00:57 That's not why I wanted to be a nurse and I know that's not what you want to be a nurse.

01:02 So let's meet Mr. Sanchez.

01:04 Now you can see Mr. Sanchez is married he has a wife, they've been married for over 50 years.

01:11 They have children. They have grandchildren and both he and I love tortillas.

01:18 So when you're working with your patients, no matter if you're in critical care, ER, Med-Surg, or in an outpatient setting, get to know them as humans.

01:28 See them as valuable as we know them to be and think about, hey, as a nurse I know that I'm a nurse scientist.

01:35 How can I shape my thinking? What cues am I going to look for to help him have a better life.

01:41 So I want you to be thinking in that mindset.

01:44 We're talking about this steps toward a healthier life.

01:47 Now as a nurse, big overarching concept what we want patients to understand is that increased blood sugar or increased glucose equals increased complications, period.

02:00 Let's just start very simple.

02:03 We want them to understand, we're not trying to control them.

02:06 We're not trying to tell them what to do.

02:08 We're not trying to make them feel guilty.

02:11 We want them to have a healthier life that means a better quality of life.

02:16 And the more controlled, we are with that blood sugar, the better the chance we have in fighting off those potential complications.

02:24 Okay so the first thing you want a diabetic client to understand and what you need to understand as a health care provider is, lower we can keep that glucose the closer towards normal we can get it, the less risk we have for complications.

02:40 That's how you want to communicate it to a patient as a health care provider, you know, the higher the glucose goes, the higher the risk is for increased complications.

02:49 So let's start there.

02:51 When you're introducing yourself to your client and you're getting to know them, first asked about them as humans, then decide. What's the most important point I want them to walk away with, do I want them to know all the specific names of eye diseases? No, I want them to get on the same same page to recognize anything we can do to help control that blood sugar is going to make a better life for them.

03:14 So here he is, Mr. Sanchez, told you a little bit about him, he's married, He has children is grandchildren.

03:22 It's got a really funny sense of humor and a great smile.

03:27 So my job is to come alongside him help figure out what's most important to him and then guide him to making healthier choices, so I don't want to call them our client, I want to call him Mr. Sanchez.

03:40 Now we tend to use that terminology and test questions and in presentations because that's the professional term, but you can still be professional and know the human.

03:50 So I want you to have a face and a story to Mr. Sanchez.

03:55 That's what helps it make you live the motivation to keep studying when you realize you're studying so you can learn and then you can serve other people.