Week 4: Attending the Outpatient Diabetes Clinic & Surveying Diabetes Patients

Week 4: 

Hey all! Welcome to my Week 4 Senior Project Blog. This week, I was able to explore the diabetes outpatient clinic, sit in on appointments of certified diabetes educators and dieticians, and learn the techniques used when teaching diabetic patients. 

During this week, I was able to receive many resources from the outpatient diabetes clinic including diabetes books, handouts, ideal meal containers, and overall general information. During appointments with diabetes educators and their patients, I was able to observe nurses using the Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) curriculum, a curriculum that is nationally used. Additionally, I was able to speak with the dietician to receive feedback on my meal planning handout that I give to diabetic patients in the E.R. With this new feedback and information in mind, I implemented the new learning techniques I learned at the diabetes outpatient clinic for patients in the E.R. Lastly, I continued to survey diabetes patients and conduct educational sessions. 

In addition to my E.R. and clinic shifts, I worked asynchronously on my research paper.  I started with the introduction and background information, using the information learned from my own research and the information provided by the outpatient diabetes clinic. 

This week has allowed me to experience different jobs in healthcare in different perspectives, from medicine to dietetics in relation to diabetes education. Also, I learned the value of teamwork in healthcare, specifically in diabetes, it requires a multi-speciality team to help prevent further complications and manage the underlying condition.

Thank you for reading, and make sure to keep asking questions about the world around you!