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DIABETES BASICS

1-800-DIABETES

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DIABETES CARE TASKS AT SCHOOL:

What Key Personnel Need to Know

The American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Care Tasks at School: What Key Personnel Need to Know is a two-part training curriculum that consists of a CD containing PowerPoint modules and a DVD containing corresponding video segments.

This training is based on and should be used in conjunction with “Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel”, a guide developed by the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), which is a federally sponsored partnership of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and over 200 partner organizations. Training participants should read the NDEP guide prior to this training in order to gain a full understanding of the requirements of appropriate school diabetes care. Participants should have a copy of the guide during this training and for future reference. The guide can be found on the web at http://www.ndep.nih.gov.

Some key points about the overall training:

Overall objective: The overall goal is to optimize both health and learning for students with diabetes by providing diabetes care training to school personnel about how and when to perform routine and emergency diabetes care tasks for students, under the supervision of a school nurse or another qualified health care professional. Completion of training will help prepare school personnel to perform diabetes care tasks, ensuring that health needs are addressed in times and locations when a nurse is not available.

Rationale: The school nurse, when available, is the most appropriate person in the school setting to provide care for a student with diabetes. However, many schools do not have full-time nurses. Even for schools that do, the nurse may not always be available during the school day, during school-sponsored extra-curricular activities or field trips to assist with routine care and emergency care. Trained school personnel must be available to perform and assist the student with diabetes care tasks.

12/2008

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Goal: Optimal Student Health �and Learning

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All school staff members should have basic knowledge of diabetes �and know who to contact for help.

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Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to understand:

What is diabetes?
Why care at school is required
Basic components of diabetes care at school
Short and long term consequences of diabetes

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What is Diabetes?

In diabetes:

Body does not make or properly use insulin

Insulin is needed to:

Move glucose from blood into cells for energy

If insulin isn’t working, high blood glucose results:

Energy levels are low

Dehydration

Complications

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�� Type 1 Diabetes

Autoimmune disorder
Insulin-producing cells destroyed
Daily insulin replacement necessary
Age of onset: usually childhood, young adulthood
Most common type of diabetes in children and adolescents

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SYMPTOMS:

increased urination

tiredness

weight loss

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Type 1 Diabetes

CAUSE:

uncertain, both genetic and environmental factors

increased thirst

hunger

dry skin

blurred vision

ONSET:

relatively quick

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Type 2 Diabetes

Insulin resistance – first step

Age at onset:

Most common in adults
Increasingly common in youth

overweight
inactivity
genes
ethnicity

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1-800-DIABETES

www.diabetes.org

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin.

In Type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin or the body cells have become less responsive to insulin, a condition called insulin resistance.

With insulin resistance the body needs increasing amounts of insulin to control blood glucose. In response, the pancreas tries to make more insulin, but sometimes cannot make enough.

Type 2 diabetes used to be found mainly in adults who were overweight and over age 40. Now, as more children and adolescents in the United States become overweight and inactive, type 2 diabetes occurs more often in young people. Many people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.

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Type 2 Diabetes

some children show no symptoms at diagnosis
others are symptomatic �with very high blood �glucose levels

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SYMPTOMS:

ONSET:

variable timeframe

for children

tired, thirsty, hunger, increased urination

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Diabetes is Managed,�But it Does Not Go Away.

GOAL:

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Maintain target

blood glucose

1-800-DIABETES

www.diabetes.org

Diabetes is managed with medication, nutrition, physical activity and glucose monitoring, but there is NO cure.

When the body doesn’t produce insulin, it must be obtained from another source. All people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin by injection to live.

Many people with type 2 diabetes take glucose-lowering medications which can be taken orally or by injection. Many youth with type 2 take insulin, often in addition to other glucose lowering medications. People with both types of diabetes also need to manage their diet and physical activity.

Neither insulin nor other medications, however, are cures for diabetes: they only help control the disease.

With both type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the goal of effective diabetes management is to control blood glucose levels by keeping them within a target range that is individually determined for each child.

Optimal blood glucose control is essential to:

Promote normal growth and development and allow for optimal learning.

Prevent the immediate dangers of blood glucose that is either too high or too low.

Additionally, research has shown that maintaining blood glucose levels within the target range can:

Prevent or delay the long-term complications of diabetes such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, nerve disease, and amputations of the foot or leg.*

*While it is important for school personnel to be aware of the potential for these serious life-limiting or life threatening complications, it is not appropriate for school personnel to discuss risks for complications with individual students.

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��Diabetes Management�Constant Juggling - 24/7

Insulin/� medication

with:

Physical

activity

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BG

and

Food

intake

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Diabetes Management

Routine Care:

Many students will be able to handle all or almost all routine diabetes care by themselves
Some students will need school staff to perform or assist with routine diabetes care

Emergency Care:

ALL students with diabetes will need help in the event of an emergency situation

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1-800-DIABETES

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The need for performance of or assistance with diabetes care tasks will vary from student to student.

Routine Care:

Many students will be able to handle all or almost all of their routine diabetes care by themselves – they can check their own blood glucose, and they can dose and give their own insulin or medication, keeping it in balance with physical activity and food intake.

Some students, because of age, developmental level, or inexperience, will need help from school staff, including performing tasks like insulin administration, blood glucose monitoring, or carbohydrate counting.

Emergency Care:

ALL students with diabetes will need help in the event of an emergency situation.

The level of care and assistance will be outlined in the Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP) agreed upon by the health care provider, parent/guardian, school nurse and student.

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Care in the Schools: �School Nurses and Others

A School nurse is most appropriate to:

Coordinate diabetes care
Supervise diabetes care
Provide direct care (when available)
Communicate about health concerns to parent/guardian and health care team

However, a school nurse is not always available.

Non-medical school staff can be trained to assist students:

For both routine and emergency care
Including insulin and glucagon administration

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1-800-DIABETES

www.diabetes.org

The school nurse is the most appropriate person in the school setting to coordinate and provide care for a student with diabetes.

Many schools, however, do not have a full-time nurse; more often, school nurses cover a large number of schools. Moreover, even when a nurse is assigned to a school full time, he or she will not always be available during the school day, during extracurricular activities, or on field trips. Yet, because diabetes management is needed 24 hours, 7 days a week -- and diabetes emergencies can happen at any time -- a student will always need access to diabetes care at school and at all school-sponsored activities.

The Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP) details the specific conditions for all routine and emergency diabetes care tasks, including insulin and glucagon administration. Non-medical school staff can be trained to assist students with these tasks as laid out in the DMMP. However, any and all clinical assessments are made by the student’s health care providers in the development of the DMMP; school staff are simply following the plan as prescribed.

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Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP)

Basis for all school-based diabetes care plans
Developed by student’s personal health care team and parent/guardian
Signed by a member of student’s personal health care team
Individualized
Implemented collaboratively by the school diabetes team:

School nurse
Student
Parent/guardian
Other school personnel

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1-800-DIABETES

www.diabetes.org

The Diabetes Medical Management Plan (DMMP) is the foundation for the development of any and all school-based care plans. The DMMP is the medical basis for an Individual Health Care Plan (IHP) written by the school nurse, a Section 504 Plan or Individualized Education Program (IEP), as well as a Quick Reference Emergency Plan.

A DMMP should be implemented for every student with diabetes. (This type of plan may have a different name in some school districts, or by some health care providers.)

The DMMP is developed and signed by the student’s personal health care team and parent/guardian with the specific needs of an individual student in mind. It should detail all the elements of care and assistance for that student.

Once the DMMP has been provided to the school, it is implemented collaboratively by the school diabetes team, which includes the school nurse, student, parent/guardian, and other school personnel.

Details regarding how, when, where and by whom the elements of the DMMP will be implemented should be documented in writing. Many school districts have their own individual health plan forms where the school nurse documents information on diabetes care.

Additionally both health and academic accommodations related to diabetes should be included in broader education plans for students with disabilities.

For example, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a federal law, students with diabetes are entitled to reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access to public education. A 504 plan should be written to document diabetes-related accommodations needed by an individual student.

Some students with diabetes will also be eligible for special education. For these students, diabetes care needs should be documented in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) that is required by another federal law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Information and a sample DMMP and 504 plan can be found on the American Diabetes Association Website at: http://www.diabetes.org/safeatschool.

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Where to Get More Information

American Diabetes Association

1-800- DIABETES

www.diabetes.org

National Diabetes Education Program/NIH

www.ndep.nih.gov

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1-800-DIABETES

www.diabetes.org