The Common Type Of Diabetes Mellitus - 2849 Words

The term diabetes mellitus describes a metabolic disorder of multiple aetiology characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. The effects of diabetes mellitus include long term damage, dysfunction and failure of various organs (WHO 1999). There are two major types of diabetes and each type has different causes and risk factors. Type 1 Diabetes – this type of diabetes is most often diagnosed in children and young adults but it can occur at any age, the cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown. In type 1 diabetes the body makes little or no insulin and requires insulin injections. Type 2 Diabetes – this is most often†¦show more content†¦Since there has been a different approach to the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis by medical staff who are generally on 6 months rotation between the different trusts. â€Å"Diabetic ketoacidosis, though preventable, remains a frequent and life threatening complication of type 1 diabetes. Unfortunately, errors in its management are not uncommon and importantly are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Most acute hospitals have guidelines for the management of DKA but it is not unusual to find these out of date and at variance to those of other hospitals.(JBDS, sept 2013). I am a band 5 staff nurse working in an acute assessment unit in one of the NHS trust hospitals. Our unit is one of the busiest units in the hospital with 10 HDU beds with monitors to manage acutely ill patients who need continuous monitoring and close observations. Diabetic ketoacidosis is one of the medical emergencies we deal with in our unit. Even though we are well equipped with medical devices to deal with DKA but there are other obstacles in the management of DKA such as unawareness of the hospital protocol, ignorance towards the trust guidelines, low level of staffing or low level of knowledge of the nursing staff in the management of patient with DKA especially a newly qualified nurse or a nurse working as an agency nurse from a different hospital. Due to the recent increase in