I work on a med-surg unit with plenty of diabetic patients. Most are noncompliant with high A1Cs and are always demanding cookies.
I try to find a balance. Last week I had a 400 pound patient demanding multiple snacks outside of his diet. He had a wound that wasn't healing and I explained to him that high blood sugar levels could interfere with the healing process. He still demanded that I give him whatever he wanted. I managed to convince him to meet me in the middle and have one of what he wanted instead of two of everything and covered his carbs and blood sugar.
So question: when a diabetic patient demands sweets, has high blood sugars and isn't NPO or clear liquids for a procedure, do you just continue to give them all the snacks they want? Or do you insist that if they want to be noncompliant with the hospital diet that they must get their own treats?
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
We carry very little on the floor, but do have diet soda, sugar free pudding and Jello. We will only give what is on a pt diet order-now we have no control about the 64 oz Mountain Dew and Bojangles that the spuse brings.... frustrates the crap out of me. The smokers are the ones that get to me more.
I'm doing my rotation on med surg floor and so many pts are diabetic with amputations. And yesterday pts family brought McDonald's for the pt... Sigh....
mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN
3,319 Posts
We carry very little on the floor, but do have diet soda, sugar free pudding and Jello. We will only give what is on a pt diet order-now we have no control about the 64 oz Mountain Dew and Bojangles that the spuse brings.... frustrates the crap out of me. The smokers are the ones that get to me more.