Specialties School
Published Nov 9, 2011
You are reading page 2 of insulin pump
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,304 Posts
I have a Kindergarten student with an insulin pump. I'm also a new school nurse.
I wish now we had all met prior to school and I had gotten training on the pump.
I've been in contact with the manufacturer's rep who actually trained this family regarding the pump. She did a class a couple of weeks ago that I attended.
Also, their website had a lot of great information and specifically for school nurses. Who manufactures your student's pump? Could you get some help from them?
I would hope at 17 that this young lady would be managing her own diabetes. Our goal with this Kindergarten student is to get him self-reliant way before high school. He's pretty darn savvy right now.
It is scary to go into a situation like this without training. And physician's orders need to be clear and then a health plan needs to be written during a 504 meeting with the mom.
Good luck!
schoolnursejennie
77 Posts
the pump is animas. the thing is with this student, she understands her diabetes completely, she knows how to use the pump correctly, and she understands the implications of hypo and hyperglycemia- she just doesn't seem to care.
Arnu
25 Posts
I hate to say it, but the teen years are tough, very very tough. I would be very careful to keep my calm with her. If numbers are high DON'T ask in an accusing tone if she snuck something, or ate extra food. Depending on how long she's had diabetes she may simple need a break. Not sure how much help she gets at home, but at 17, probably not much. She needs someone to understand, to help, to listen. She definitely doesn't need someone to be on her all the time. She has plenty of people like that. Our job is to make sure she's safe and doing what needs to be done. But, in this case, do it with as much compassion as possible. Diabetes is such a tough disease, many people don't realize that. Is there any other disease in the world where the person who has it is totally responsible for keeping themself healthy? Adjusting their 'medication'? Is there any other disease that is knocking on your door 24hrs a day, 7 days a week? To a teenage (and most kids) the day to day gets old fast. So you are right. Right now she could probably care less. And that is so dangerous for her in the long run.
Good luck.
Here is the link I was sent for nurse stuff - there is no voice over at this time though. Just slides.
http://animas.com/nursetraining
Here's the website with other training stuff:
http://www.animas.com
thank you SO much! and you are exactly right...she needs somebody that is going to approach her with compassion and caring and i am trying to be that person. at first she was causing me a lot of anxiety but i've calmed down a bit so i hope she is able to see that i can be that person for her. she has it tough at home- her mom has MS and is wheel chair bound. she is 17 but is in the 9th grade due to dyslexia and other learning disabilities. she is such a sweet girl, always polite and well-mannered. i really hope that i am able to help her.