Last night I had a patient with a BS of 39. I had just finished giving report on her when she asked us to check her BS. Since the oncoming nurse still had to get report on a few more patients, I got the aid to check the BS then did the following....
She was alert, oriented, walking, talking, etc. (She was diaphoretic and seeing black spots, but very capable of eating and drinking.) I got her OJ, crackers and peanut butter. She also had Glucerna at her bedside. She drank the OJ, insisted on drinking the Glucerna too. (Type I DM for 16 years. I often trust what they say since they've been managing their disease for a long time.) She said she'd eat the PB and crackers too. Said she was starting to feel better and I could tell she was "perking up".
I felt confident she was doing better, found the other nurse who had just finished report, and told her what I'd done. She said, "I'll get her an amp of D50."
So with a BS that low, what would you have done? I think our policy is to give food and juice if the patient was able to eat, not NPO, etc. There is no "low end" as far as I know to always give D50. Does it work faster? With a BS of 39, would you use D50 even if the person could eat?
This has been bugging me all night. I actually had a dream that they called an RR on her after I left. (Very odd-ball patient, probably undiagnosed bi-polar or personality disorder. She'd taken up A LOT of my time that day and had gotten under my skin, which is probably why she was so much on my mind.)
