- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Assessing diabetes complication risk factors
- 2 Monitoring blood glucose levels
- 3 Monitoring ketone levels
- 4 Monitoring lipid levels
- 5 Blood pressure monitoring
- 6 Calculating body mass index
- 7 Making sense of the measurements
- 8 Summary
- 9 Questions
- References
- Acknowledgements
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Diabetes complications
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Diabetes is an increasing problem among both adults and children. This unit...
Diabetes is an increasing problem among both adults and children. This unit looks at the way diabetes is managed once it has been diagnosed in order to reduce the risk of further complications. You will look at the role of each member of the team involved in the diabetes annual review and look at the risk factors involved with certain diabetes complications.
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
- define and use, or recognise definitions and applications of, each of the terms printed in bold in the text;
- list the investigations that should form part of a diabetes annual review;
- discuss the role of different diabetes team members in performing the investigations for an annual review;
- appreciate the range of results for the various tests carried out at the annual review;
- explain which risk factors are associated with particular diabetes complications;
- outline how the person with diabetes can use the annual review to improve their diabetes control.
- Duration: 16 hours
- Published on: Tuesday 31st May 2011
- Level: Introductory
- Posted under: Biology
Diabetes complications
Introduction
This unit is taken from Chapter 5 of the OU course Diabetes care; we hope you find studying with us a valuable experience. This course is designed to inform people from a variety of backgrounds about diabetes and its management. You might be hoping to learn more about diabetes because you plan to have a career in the health services, or you may be caring for someone with this condition, or you may have diabetes yourself. Whatever your reasons for viewing these pages we hope that you are able to learn more about the processes that cause diabetes and how Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are treated. You should know about the signs and symptoms of the condition, and should appreciate how they would affect the day-to-day life of that person.
The aim of managing diabetes, therefore, is to enable affected people, as far as possible, to feel well enough to live the sort of life they would have lived if they did not have the condition. However, apart from improving the quality of life of the person with diabetes, the correct management of both types of diabetes reduces the risks of the long-term complications that can develop if the condition is poorly controlled. This unit examines the factors that increase these risks, how they are monitored, and who performs the tests associated with these risks.
SK120_1
