Diabetes of Knowledge and Education

Diabetes Knowledge and Education

Over the course of this class, we have discussed and researched Diabetes. Diabetes is a very common disease that has two forms, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 Diabetes is a genetic autoimmune disease that attacks the beta cells of the pancreas. Type 2 Diabetes, the more common form, is the result of consistently overworking the beta cells that produce insulin, which causes the beta cells to malfunction. This specific type also induces insulin resistance that makes the cells immune to the hormone (“Facts about Type 2”). Multiple connections have been made to Diabetes in the past few weeks such as cancer, economic data, and pathway functions on the biological side of things. Through these connection, we can see how impactful Diabetes is to different markets and areas of interest. For example, Diabetes serves as a huge centerpiece in pharmaceutical businesses that produce insulin for blood glucose monitoring. As a common disease, many people like myself have heard about Diabetes. Although Diabetes is a common health disease, people don’t necessarily know the specific details of the disease. Personally, I thought Diabetes was a minor health disease in which there were no seriously complications or health risks associated with it. However, this was very naïve to think. After studying the disease, this lead me to think about other people who might not know about the disease, how many people have been affected by unawareness, and benefits of education on Diabetes and possible preventative methods.

In Class, we discussed an article about the GSK3 protein. The protein was a major regulator in pancreas cell production which inhibited cell growth when activated, activating as a modulator of beta cell production (Mussmann et al., 2007). Not only was this a monumental discovery in developing Diabetes treatment, but it also shows how much we, as a scientific community, know about Diabetes. Although we may know the causes and potential dangers with the disease, we don’t know much about the links to other diseases or about how to treat a disorder like this. Much research has gone into Diabetes and links to different pathways have been discovered, however, there is always new data and pathways that can be connected to Diabetes. The GSK3 protein shows how much we think we know about Diabetes, but new discoveries could lead to better advances in treatment procedures. Instead of thinking we know a lot about Diabetes, we need to be realistic in that there is more that we need to learn about the disease and different mechanisms involved until we find a suitable treatment.

While researching about Diabetes, I came across a story of a diabetic lady that had mistreatment by health professionals. In one of her stories the doctor did not take into account the patients Diabetes in his diagnosis, which ended up being a contributor to her illness. In another case, the nurses did not know how to properly handle diabetic patient situations or how to carefully monitor their blood glucose levels. Although most nurses should know how to properly deal and assess diabetic patients, there are the few that don’t which raises concern. Being at the forefront of the medical field, nurses need to be able to do, at the very least, common disease treatment and how to manage patients with different health conditions (“Scary diabetic hospital stories,” 2010). Like I said before, most nurses are capable of doing these things; however, maybe the new nurses or ones who don’t normally handle situations like these are depended on. Either way, improper care of a patient with a health difficulty needs to be treated carefully to avoid potential harmful side effects such as hypoglycemia. In these cases of the diabetic lady, she knew more about how to handle her heath than the professionals, which is something that is somewhat ironic.

People knowledgeable about Diabetes resulted in better care of themselves and overall health than others who were unknowledgeable (Chavan et al., 2015). During this study, about 300 diabetic patients were evaluated on their knowledge of Diabetes. Only one-fifth of the patients knew a “good-amount” about Diabetes whereas the majority of the patients knew very little or decent amounts. The results showed that even though most patients in the study were diabetic or years, they still didn’t know how to properly take care of themselves due to the lack of knowledge about the disease. Education about the disease is crucial in making sure the patient is also taking care of themselves. In this case, people who were diagnosed with Diabetes did not know about the disease and probably thought it was very minor and unimportant. Just like me, these people probably thought the disease was no big deal because of the amount of other people diagnosed with Diabetes, its commonality. Speaking about Diabetes and educating people about what the Disease actually is and the potential issues that come about it could help administer better cooperation between physician and patient in treating the disease. This “comfort” of Diabetes in those who don’t think it is a big health issue is dangerous because someone wouldn’t care if they were diagnosed with Diabetes or not. Overall, proper education of the disease could help in better awareness of the other potential harm and causes that the disease may entail.

With the different aspects of Diabetes and those involved in treatments, some people like myself don’t know too much about the disease. This is particularly a result of the lack of education and information about the common disease. Although the disease is very common, there are potentially dangerous symptoms if not properly cared for. Especially with the study of Chavan et al. (2015) suggesting that some people who were diagnosed with Diabetes didn’t know much about the disease. Overall, Diabetes is interrelated to several different health problems and concerns, which means that the healthcare professionals need to be updated on proper treatments for the disease, as well as how to handle certain situations if a patient is diabetic.

References

Chavan, G. M., Waghachavare, V. B., Gore, A. D., Chavan, V. M., Dhobale, R. V., & Dhumale, G. B. (2015). Knowledge about diabetes and relationship between compliance to the management among the diabetic patients from Rural Area of Sangli District, Maharashtra, India. Journal Of Family Medicine & Primary Care, 4(3), 439-443. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.161349

Facts about Type 2. (2013, August 1). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/facts-about-type-2.html

Mussmann R, Geese M, Austen M, et al. Inhibition of GSK3 Promotes Replication and Survival of Pancreatic Beta Cells. Journal Of Biological Chemistry [serial online]. April 20, 2007;282(16):12030-12037. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 24, 2016.

Scary diabetic hospital stories. (2010, April 18). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://thegirlsguidetodiabetes.com/2010/04/18/scary-diabetic-hospital-stories/