Homework: Pathophysiology of Diabetes
Length: 2000 words.
Purpose
Knowledge about the pathophysiology and diagnosis of diabetes is fundamental to be able to provide evidence-based, person-centred care for people with diabetes. This assessment task will assist you in the development of this knowledge.
Task
Meet Simon. Simon is a bubbly 13 year old boy who loves playing cricket and teasing his 9 year old sister. Last month Simon had to miss the last three cricket matches of the season when he was diagnosed with influenza.
Simon has just returned from year 7 school camp. He noticed that when he was away he was very thirsty and passing more urine than usual and had trouble keeping up with his mates on the camp activities. He thought he was still recovering from the flu. When he got home from camp his Dad thought he looked thinner and unwell so took him to the GP.
The GP suspects that Simon has developed diabetes. The GP uses the point of care blood glucose meter to check Simon's blood glucose level and finds that it is 15.9 mmol/L. He uses the blood ketone meter to check for ketones and the result is 2.6 mmol/L.
Your task:
There are 2 parts to this homework. Dedicate equal weight to each section.
Part I
1. Identify what type of diabetes is consistent with Simon's symptoms and clinical features.
2. Explain your rationale and the investigations and clinical assessments that should be performed to confirm the diagnosis and type of diabetes for Simon, including when, how and why these are performed.
Part II
Describe the pathophysiology of diabetes in relation to the clinical presentation of Simon's diabetes. Explain the metabolic abnormalities observed in Simon's case study in contrast to normal carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism.
Instructions
1. Use information from what you have learned from the course material, readings and your own research of the topic.
2. Draw on concepts provided in the unit.
3. Familiarise yourself with the online resources provided on Future Learn.
4. Access relevant contemporary evidence to support the information in your essay. References should mainly include refereed journal articles and text books.
5. The suggested readings in the unit are a good place to start. References to non-peer reviewed websites, information designed for consumers and/or Wikipedia are not appropriate for this assessment task.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the homework, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.