Hospital Management of Hypoglycemia in Adults with Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus (or Diabetes) is a very common disease affecting millions of people every year. It is a group of metabolic disease having the characteristic of high sugar levels brought about by the inefficiency of insulin secretion and/or action. Because of the deficient insulin, it results to elevated glucose level known as hyperglycemia. It is a chronic illness that lasts a lifetime though it can be controlled. Diabetes Mellitus causes a lot of complications like kidney failure and nerve damage.1

Based on a statistical report, Diabetes affects 17 million of people just in the USA. There are also 12 million people there who don’t even know that they have Diabetes. It the third leading cause of death there. If the global statistics would be reported, it would be very overwhelming.2

Those are the reasons why Diabetes should be controlled. There are restrictions in the diet of the patient. There are also medications, especially insulin and oral pills used to control the insulin levels. However such medications may result to a condition called hypoglycemia as a side effect. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse defines this condition as “low blood glucose or low blood sugar, occurs when blood glucose drops below normal levels.”3 It abruptly happens and there are several reasons behind. Most of the time, it has mild symptoms but it can also be severe which when left untreated, may cause death. In people with diabetes, hypoglycemia commonly results from taking certain combination pills. That is the reason why people with diabetes should have a plan on managing the occurrence of hypoglycemia.

The nature of hypoglycemia requires immediate attention for it can result to additional damages to diabetic patient. Hospitals, doctors, and patients themselves must be prepared in treating hypoglycemia for it may occur suddenly. They must all have a management plan for this condition. The plan must include key preventions and treatments to address the disease.

The doctors and nurses of the patients must work closely to carry out an effective plan on managing diabetes and avoiding hypoglycemia at the same time. They must plan carefully what is best diabetes medication for the patient which would not increase the risk of hypoglycemia. They must also plan the diet of the patient with the help of a nutritionist/dietitian that will best fit the lifestyle and the treatment of the patient. Another factor to be considered is the physical activity of the patient. Physical activity helps the diabetic patient to lower the level of his blood sugar, but too much it may result to hypoglycemia.4

And then, there is the treatment management plan which should be included in the hospital care plan. This condition requires immediate attention, just like what is started above, which includes the presence of a quick acting carbohydrate to return the sugar levels back to normal. There should always be supplies of oral carbohydrate in every room that the patient may be able to use by himself in case there are no medical personnel around.5 To make sure, there should always be nurses around that can be alerted once a series of the condition occurs.

The hospital must always conduct an assessment to record these attacks so that they could give out guidelines on what to do in the onset of the attack. There should also be a standard protocol that should guide the medical personnel on what to do once a patient suffers from the said condition. Since hypoglycemia varies from person to person, it is important to have a standard procedure to follow.

The treatment of hypoglycemia also depends on the position of the patient on the onset of the attack and it also requires specific nature of treatments. For this reason, hospital amenities should also be taken on consideration. There should be wide pathways in the hospitals in emergency cases.6 The hospital must also be equipped with competent and knowledgeable staffs who can deal with each patient. Lastly, they must also educate the patients themselves so that can manage their own hypoglycemia.

In situations like this, cooperation is the thing to be done. The hospital, patients and staffs must work together in order to lessen the risk of diabetes and its complications and side effects, especially hypoglycemia which should be taken seriously. If these measures are to be done, triumph over the disease would be achieved.

References:

1Marthur, R. 2007. Medicinent.com (Online). Available:

http://www.medicinenet.com/diabetes_mellitus/article.htm [4 May 2011]

2Marthur, R. 2007. Medicinent.com (Online). Available:

http://www.medicinenet.com/diabetes_mellitus/article.htm [4 May 2011]

3National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, 2008. NDIC (Online) Available: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/#cause [4 May 2011] 4National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, 2008. NDIC (Online) Available: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/#cause [4 May 2011]

5Joint British Diabetes Society, 2010. The Hospital Management of Hypoglycaemia in

Adults with Diabetes Mellitus (Online) Available:

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/About%20Us/Our%20views/Care%20recs/Joint%20British%20Diabetes%20Societies%20Inpatient%20Care%20Group%20-%20The%20Hospital%20Management%20of%20Hypoglycaemia%20in%20Adults%20with%20Diabetes%20Mellitus.pdf [4 May 2011]

6Joint British Diabetes Society, 2010. The Hospital Management of Hypoglycaemia in

Adults with Diabetes Mellitus (Online) Available: