Diabetes health education
I don't have diabetes but I am doing some research into how effective diabetes education is in schools, if you have any stories about the diabetes education you have or have not received at school i'd like to hear about them.
haven't had any diabetes education via school
Unfortunately this seems to be a trend, despite an updated curriculum for education professionals most schools don't seems to be educating. I wonder if it's related to the infrastructure of the school?
Do you have a school nurse? or a teacher with medical specialties?
The underlying problem here is that there are SO many medical conditions that schools need education about - allergies, learning disabilities, infectious diseases and of course diabetes. Our family has been very involved in educating school administration, the faculty and school nurse about our daughter's diabetes and celiac disease.
Our efforts have paid off with better awareness and care for her. The side effect is that everyone we touch has a better understanding of the condition and is able to betteer handle diabetic emergencies for other students in the school.
when i was a kid i brought my nutritionist to school to educate my class about what diabetes really was about. that was during show and tell.
[quote user="Red"]
The underlying problem here is that there are SO many medical conditions that schools need education about - allergies, learning disabilities, infectious diseases and of course diabetes. Our family has been very involved in educating school administration, the faculty and school nurse about our daughter's diabetes and celiac disease.
Our efforts have paid off with better awareness and care for her. The side effect is that everyone we touch has a better understanding of the condition and is able to betteer handle diabetic emergencies for other students in the school.
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I'm happy to hear that your efforts have paid off, education at a school level seems to be very important for diabetes awareness.
I wonder if you had any thoughts about how reliant schools are on diagnosed diabetics for the quality of their diabetes education. In my experience, the education level in schools seems to be heavily related to the willingness of an already diagnosed individual to proactively teach their friends and class mates about diabetes. Do you think this adds unnecessary pressure to what already may be a tough situation for a diabetic?
Christopher,
I don't think the folks at my school were educated enough to provide that sort of information back in the early 80's. As to the undo pressure or burden issue - for me, it was very theraputic to talk about it with my friends and educate them about what I was going through... It kinda' forced me to reach out and talk about it which isn't something I do, by nature, particularly well... I had good medical resources to answer questions as they came up, though, so I wasn't limited to my school as my sole source of diabetes education.
Cheers!
A-D
Thanks for your reply A-D. I think dialogue is a great therapy and it seems to be a major priority in current diabetes care, this website is a good example.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the CGM, what you consider to be the major benefits this technology and how it will affect diabetics daily lives?
[quote user="A-D"]
Christopher,
I don't think the folks at my school were educated enough to provide that sort of information back in the early 80's. As to the undo pressure or burden issue - for me, it was very theraputic to talk about it with my friends and educate them about what I was going through... It kinda' forced me to reach out and talk about it which isn't something I do, by nature, particularly well... I had good medical resources to answer questions as they came up, though, so I wasn't limited to my school as my sole source of diabetes education.
Cheers!
A-D
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Christopher,
I can't speak to diabetics, as a whole, as my study group is founded with a total membership of 1. ;) I believe everyone's management is personal and individual by the very nature of the illness and its requirements. My style may be similar to some others but it would be impossible for any of us to exactly duplicate what another is doing. That said, the CGM, in my mind, fits a particular niche (based on A-D logic):
1. Perfect glycemic control is the aim of my diabetes management
2. Perfect glycemic control is not possible
3. Because perfect control is not possible, my secondary goal is to catch excursions as quickly as possible
a. Pre-CGM, I tried to make sure I never went more than two hours without testing
i. Sometimes I would forget to test
ii. Sometimes, it was impractical to test
iii. Sometimes, I would foolishly talk myself into testing later for a variety of foolish reasons
b. Post-CGM – test or not, I have my numbers at a glance
i. I have better records, and real time trending data at a glance to make in-day dosing decisions
ii. I have better records and long-term trending data to review for evaluating basals, eating habits, and other, more large scale trending and habit patterns
4. I make assertions (guesses) test them, evaluate, make new assertions, test again… the CGM gives me a more complete picture that I think will allow me to make better decisions and faster corrections.
Also, because of my hypoglycemic unawareness, knowing faster when my sugar is heading out of bounds makes me a safer individual in every aspect of my life. I acknowledge these devices are, as yet, imperfect but for those of us who are willing to work with them and/or who have the unawareness issues I face, I think they are an absolutely irreplaceable tool.
The two words that seem to go together most often when discussing diabetes are: “diabetes management.” I believe the logical follow here is: The greatest amount of usable data is the best amount of data to have for use. (Say that 6 times quickly J jk )
I got to the end and I’m not sure if it was where I was headed when I started or if I answered your question…
Cheers!
A-D
my science texte book has a lot about diabetes related stuff but we skip all that stuff. they have info on dr charles best and that other guy who discovered insulin(next year,my school is named after charles best!). on a science test today, it was an open space to write about stuff we studied, and i was going to put a ton of diabetes stuff i learned in there but it wasnt in the part of the text book that we read(we skipped it) so i decided to leave it out because i would probably not get marks for it and arguing with my teacher does not turn out very well(havent tried it but ive seen it, but then those are people opposite from me...)
Christopher, your orginal post was well over a month ago, but here's my "story" in regards to your first two posts (education and nurses). My elementary, middle, and high schools had NO nurses! I know since I had a low once in first grade and my teacher had to get a girl to run to the cafeteria and get me juice and my mom had to come, in middle school I was an "office aid" and when people got hurt, they were sent to what seemed like an abandoned room with one bed, a first aid kit, and plenty of ice, and in high school I completely tore my ACL, and I was told to sit down outside of the principle's office and wait for my dad... no nurse... ever! As for diabetes education... even worse. In the beginning of every school year, I would always check the index of my science textbooks and check for "diabetes." Very little information was on it, and most of the time, the teachers never even bothered to go through those sections... not even when i was in the university. I was also dissapointed in a nutrition class I took because the professor only spoke about type 2 diabetes and as always, ended EVERY single lecture about how fat everyone is (seriously, she only spoke about the population getting obese, and she thought she had to lose weight eventhough her bones were visible... quite disturbing).
Well, that's my input. From this, i can def. see why people easily confuse type 2 with type 1... it's just not mentioned in school like it should be. Also, when watching the news, headlines always say diabetes, and sometimes when the actual report comes out, they fail to distinguish which of the two they are refering to (although most of the time it's for type 2). Okay, I'm getting off the subject matter here, so I'll stop, but I hope this helped???
take care and good luck on your research!
[quote user="Ruth"]
Christopher, your orginal post was well over a month ago, but here's my "story" in regards to your first two posts (education and nurses). My elementary, middle, and high schools had NO nurses! I know since I had a low once in first grade and my teacher had to get a girl to run to the cafeteria and get me juice and my mom had to come, in middle school I was an "office aid" and when people got hurt, they were sent to what seemed like an abandoned room with one bed, a first aid kit, and plenty of ice, and in high school I completely tore my ACL, and I was told to sit down outside of the principle's office and wait for my dad... no nurse... ever! As for diabetes education... even worse. In the beginning of every school year, I would always check the index of my science textbooks and check for "diabetes." Very little information was on it, and most of the time, the teachers never even bothered to go through those sections... not even when i was in the university. I was also dissapointed in a nutrition class I took because the professor only spoke about type 2 diabetes and as always, ended EVERY single lecture about how fat everyone is (seriously, she only spoke about the population getting obese, and she thought she had to lose weight eventhough her bones were visible... quite disturbing).
Well, that's my input. From this, i can def. see why people easily confuse type 2 with type 1... it's just not mentioned in school like it should be. Also, when watching the news, headlines always say diabetes, and sometimes when the actual report comes out, they fail to distinguish which of the two they are refering to (although most of the time it's for type 2). Okay, I'm getting off the subject matter here, so I'll stop, but I hope this helped???
take care and good luck on your research!
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Hi Ruth,
Thanks so much for your comments, sadly your story is becoming quite common, there are many factors that lead to the lack of full time nurses in schools all over the world (I am based in Canada), many of the reasons get tangled up in funding or lack thereof. A school nurse can demand a salary of between $40,000 - $60,000 so even though having a full-time nurse means quicker medical attention for sick kids, budget constraints mean that having one is now a luxury, not a necessity. I don't think this will change in the near future so what are the alternatives?
In some states in the US, as an alternative to having nurses on campus full time, teachers and aids are trained and taught to administer the treatment. This seems a very good idea initially, basic diabetes care can be provided by the most illiterate of people so why not? Well, there are many reasons I do not agree with this alternative measure. One of which is in regard to the subtle complications of many childhood illnesses (such as diabetes), they require professionally trained and skilled individuals, nurses are lifesavers, they are not part-time healers and as such I fell that they need to be an integral part to any school system.
I wonder if local hospitals could join with their closest schools to share resources?
Your concerns about the troubles people have differentiating between type 1 + 2 are interesting, I know that the JDRF a few years ago were investing a chunk of its awareness campaign dollars into creating a “series of materials” to educate the public about the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 but obviously more needs to be done.
I fear that the attention span of the general public is getting shorter and shorter. As a challenge, how would you sum up the difference (in one sentence or in a relatively small amount of bullet points) between type 1 + 2 to our continuously restless and impulsive fellow public?
You also mentioned that all your nutrition lectures ended with talks about weight? When you think about it, weight issues are broadcasted everywhere you look nowadays, from advertising, the media, even doctors promote a thin build over a heavy one, it must get oppressive for kids. Do you think weight and health are related?
Thanks for your imput Ruth :o)
Chris
I do think that weight is an issue. I constantly hear that this is the first time that parents will outlive their children, which is devastating. There are also schools with limited or no physical education which further complicates the matter. As for my nutrition teacher, while she did have a valid point, she just went too far into making herself seem like she was a better mother than the ones her students had, health-wise, and that if all moms were like her there’d be no obesity… at least that was the impression she gave me. That’s what I meant to say in the previous post.
Anyway, while weight and health are related in a certain respect, you must also take into account that there are many "naturally" thin individuals who never exercise. Just how much more healthy are they than suppose an overweight person who manages to walk a couple of miles a week? I'm no expert, but that's just my opinion. Also, just the other day I was watching the news in a Spanish station, and they were showing a study where about half of the overweight people they tested for blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. came out at a normal range while many of the average weight people had an elevated level in some of these measurements. This shows that there are too many generalizations based on weight. HOWEVER, I'm not saying that being overweight is healthy it's just that there are just too many stereotypes that have to be dismissed. Are overweight people at an elevated risk for heart disease, for instance? Of course, just not all of them, do you get where I’m going here? Again, what do I know? These are just my opinions and feel free to correct anything (or everything) I have mentioned.
As for differentiating the two types in one sentence... it's pretty tough and pardon if it becomes a run-on, but here it goes...
Type 2 diabetes is the most common of the two that is often weight-related and is controlled with diet, exercise, and oral medications, while type 1 diabetes is usually (emphasis on the usually!) diagnosed under the age of 30 who require daily insulin treatment, and its cause is unknown although genetic and/or environmental factors may be involved.
WHAM, BAM, ALAKAZAM! You’ve just got yourself a less than mediocre sentence. It didn’t come out like I wanted it to, but hey, it’s not easy to describe the two in just a sentence (considering that there are two types of Type-1 diabetes and many subtypes out there) and I HATE bullet points, LOL :)
Take care!
[quote user="figure skater girl"]
my science texte book has a lot about diabetes related stuff but we skip all that stuff. they have info on dr charles best and that other guy who discovered insulin(next year,my school is named after charles best!). on a science test today, it was an open space to write about stuff we studied, and i was going to put a ton of diabetes stuff i learned in there but it wasnt in the part of the text book that we read(we skipped it) so i decided to leave it out because i would probably not get marks for it and arguing with my teacher does not turn out very well(havent tried it but ive seen it, but then those are people opposite from me...)
[/quote]
Hi FSG,
''...and the other guy who discovered insulin...'' LOL :o) Nobody ever remembers the second guy, or the third, it's like when people talk about the moon landing and they say ''It was Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin....and...erm, the other guy'', poor guys!
It's so strange to think that teachers skip over basic diabetes information despite it being in the text books, I guess it's not crucial to your exams but still, it's pretty lazy. Do your teachers think that most people are aware of diabetes? Maybe that's why they skip the section?
I've come across a lot of people who have a sense of complacency because they have heard we have drugs combating diabetes so don't think it is a problem anymore. What do you think? What do your friends think about it?
Does your school have a nurse?
[quote user="Ruth"]
Christopher, your orginal post was well over a month ago, but here's my "story" in regards to your first two posts (education and nurses). My elementary, middle, and high schools had NO nurses! I know since I had a low once in first grade and my teacher had to get a girl to run to the cafeteria and get me juice and my mom had to come, in middle school I was an "office aid" and when people got hurt, they were sent to what seemed like an abandoned room with one bed, a first aid kit, and plenty of ice, and in high school I completely tore my ACL, and I was told to sit down outside of the principle's office and wait for my dad... no nurse... ever! As for diabetes education... even worse. In the beginning of every school year, I would always check the index of my science textbooks and check for "diabetes." Very little information was on it, and most of the time, the teachers never even bothered to go through those sections... not even when i was in the university. I was also dissapointed in a nutrition class I took because the professor only spoke about type 2 diabetes and as always, ended EVERY single lecture about how fat everyone is (seriously, she only spoke about the population getting obese, and she thought she had to lose weight eventhough her bones were visible... quite disturbing).
Well, that's my input. From this, i can def. see why people easily confuse type 2 with type 1... it's just not mentioned in school like it should be. Also, when watching the news, headlines always say diabetes, and sometimes when the actual report comes out, they fail to distinguish which of the two they are refering to (although most of the time it's for type 2). Okay, I'm getting off the subject matter here, so I'll stop, but I hope this helped???
take care and good luck on your research!
[/quote]
you had science books? the only books i remember getting in school were for history and math. that's it. if it wasnt a book, then it was a paket from the books.
[quote user="Ruth"]
Christopher, your orginal post was well over a month ago, but here's my "story" in regards to your first two posts (education and nurses). My elementary, middle, and high schools had NO nurses! I know since I had a low once in first grade and my teacher had to get a girl to run to the cafeteria and get me juice and my mom had to come, in middle school I was an "office aid" and when people got hurt, they were sent to what seemed like an abandoned room with one bed, a first aid kit, and plenty of ice, and in high school I completely tore my ACL, and I was told to sit down outside of the principle's office and wait for my dad... no nurse... ever! As for diabetes education... even worse. In the beginning of every school year, I would always check the index of my science textbooks and check for "diabetes." Very little information was on it, and most of the time, the teachers never even bothered to go through those sections... not even when i was in the university. I was also dissapointed in a nutrition class I took because the professor only spoke about type 2 diabetes and as always, ended EVERY single lecture about how fat everyone is (seriously, she only spoke about the population getting obese, and she thought she had to lose weight eventhough her bones were visible... quite disturbing).
Well, that's my input. From this, i can def. see why people easily confuse type 2 with type 1... it's just not mentioned in school like it should be. Also, when watching the news, headlines always say diabetes, and sometimes when the actual report comes out, they fail to distinguish which of the two they are refering to (although most of the time it's for type 2). Okay, I'm getting off the subject matter here, so I'll stop, but I hope this helped???
take care and good luck on your research!
[/quote]
you had science books? the only books i remember getting in school were for history and math. that's it. if it wasnt a book, then it was a packet from the books.
Mel, yes I did have science books for middle school and high school, but now that i think about it, i didn't receive much of a science education in elementary school until 5th grade because i clearly remember a genetics lesson... but it must have been before too, since there was a gifted class for science and math, so I guess I just forgot if we even had books for that subject matter...
wow our education system sucks.
I dropped out of school in 8th grade and after only 3 years of having diabetes.
I was beyond miserable in school- I was board, under challenged, the building made me ill. I'd just go home everyday at half day because that was considered all you needed to be counted for a full day. Somehow I got As and Bs even if I skipped class- finding that out my mom actually told me to drop out.
(don't worry, I then went to college @ 16 and I'm about to graduate.)
The only health education I got was from diabetes camp.
Christopher,
In my 9th grade biology class, we did talk a little bit about diabetes one day in class. I don't remember a whole lot about what we learned, but I do remember telling the class about having diabetes, giving myself insulin shots, and the other basic day-to-day realities of being a T1 diabetic.
Also, I was an exchange student in Germany for a semester in high school, and we also learned about diabetes (type 1 and type 2) in my biology class.
Christie