Managing Type 1 Diabetes in the School Setting

you can see type 1 diabetes affects more than the child, we all need to help especially when it comes

to managing type 1 diabetes in the setting that’s why Beaumont children’s created this video in

partnership with JDRF don’t worry you don’t have to memorize all this we’ve included an easy-to-

follow guide that explains everything in detail by no means does this replace hands-on training this is

about becoming familiar with what you need to do first things first what is 

Diabetes a healthy pancreas makes insulin a hormone that turns glucose in the blood into energy

glucose is also known as sugar comes from what we eat and if your pancreas stops producing insulin

you have type 1 Diabetes this is sometimes called Juvenile Diabetes because it usually develops

some children adolescents and young adults without insulin glucose builds up in the blood causing

high blood sugar someone with type 1 Diabetes must put insulin in their body through injections or

an insulin pump now

symptoms of type 1 diabetes

if someone’s pancreas can produce their own insulin but it’s not enough or ineffective and turning

blood sugar into energy that person has type 2 Diabetes type 2 can sometimes be managed with diet

and exercise alone or with oral medications and in some cases with insulin injections most -age

children with Diabetes have a type, unfortunately, as our society becomes more overweight and

sedentary type 2 has become more common in -aged 

children part of keeping type 1 diabetes under control is regular blood glucose checks you’ll find a

a lot of different glucose meters out there these glucose meters also called glucometers are all simple

to use they work in similar ways you should get specific instructions from the parents about their

child’s meter basically you take a drop of blood usually from the fingertip and place it on a special

test drip in a glucometer to get a blood sugar now some people use a continuous glucose monitor or

Sugiyama, 

what is type 1 diabetes

it attaches to the body like an insulin pump and requires fewer finger pucks and meter tasks during

the course of the day remember when dosing insulin a glucometer, not a continuous glucose monitor

must be used before we go into what these readings mean you should first be familiar with what we

call food doses and correction doses both types of doses do require some 

simple and understanding all of the terminologies does take some practice so remember if you ever

get confused you can always refer to your guide a food dose is how much insulin you give someone

at his or her scheduled meal time this is part of a child’s daily management routine just take the total

grams of carbohydrates in a meal and divide it by the student’s insulin to carbohydrate ratio that the

ratio 

should be in the management plan whatever number you get is your food dose of insulin let’s say the

student’s blood sugar level is elevated above 150 you will need to do the following to administer a

correction dose of insulin the correct dose of insulin corrects high blood sugars at mealtime first take

the child’s actual blood glucose level you’ve obtained from the glucometer and then subtract the

child’s target number which is often 

150 the answer we get is a variable we’ll call X take X and divide that by the student’s correction

factor this factor is a number that should be in the ‘s management plan the answer you get is the

correction the dose of insulin add that number to the food dose of insulin the sum you get is the total

mealtime insulin dose you need to inject we know this is a lot to digest so we’ve put all of this

information and the equations in your guide and if you’re ever in doubt confirm the insulin dosage

with the child’s parent understanding how to administer insulin is something you should know

because you may be asked to help students that administer their insulin at mealtime on a daily basis

if you’re injecting insulin in a syringe you’ll need to prepare the bottle first instructions are on your

guide once it’s ready to find a clean injection site on a student give that area of skin a gentle pinch touch

symptoms of type 1 diabetes

the needle to the skin and push it through release the pinch and inject the insulin slowly and steadily

wait for 10 seconds then pull the needle out make note of any drops of insulin leaking back insulin

can also be injected using an insulin pen this is what a typical pen looks like first, you need to insert

an insulin cartridge into the pens cartridge holder twist it on and attach a new needle holding the

pen upright select two units and press the dose button until it says zero this will remove any possible

air keep testing the pen until insulin sports from the needle tip select the dosage you need then inject

it into the child’s skin the counter will read zero when the entire dose has been administered count to

ten and remove the needle with some pens you don’t have to insert a cartridge because they’re

prefilled each pen is 

a little different so parents should give you instructions on the pen their child uses now let’s go back

to those glucose readings a normal range for a -aged child is typically between 80 and 180 a

type 1 diabetes treatment

correction dose may be required with blood glucose more than 150 

if the is above 150 that the child has high blood sugar which is called hyperglycemia besides the

the number you should also look for symptoms like thirst frequent urination and drowsiness the full list

is in your guide this doesn’t put a child in any immediate danger but high levels over time 

can lead to serious complications that’s why you still need to treat this condition this is why you

administer a correction dose of insulin during a student’s scheduled meal time now if a child’s blood

glucose level is higher than 300 you must first for urine ketones to do this you need a keto diet stick

strip to have the student urinate in a clean then dip 

the strip into the let any excess urine drip off the strip wait 15 seconds then compare the test area

with the color chart found on the side of the keto diet sticks, bottle different color results call for

different courses of action your the guide will tell you what to do  now let’s talk about if a student’s

blood glucose level is 80 or lower he or she has low blood sugar which is called hypoglycemia this is

the most common and potentially dangerous condition for someone with 

type 1 diabetes if left untreated it may lead to severely low blood sugar which could be life-

threatening mild hypoglycemia means a child’s blood glucose is less than 65 or less than 80 with

symptoms like dizziness shakiness and hunger the full list of symptoms is in your guide to treating mild

hypoglycemia follow the rule of 15 provide 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates such as a 4-ounce

juice box or 4 glucose tablets wait 15 minutes and recheck the blood glucose if it’s still below 80

repeat the treatment if you need to treat a third time notify the parent immediately if the students next

the meal is more than two hours away give him or her an additional 15-gram carbohydrate snack that

includes protein severe hypoglycemia is when the blood glucose is so low that there’s a loss of

consciousness or seizure with an inability to if this happens first call 911 have someone find a trained

employee and don’t give the student anything by mouth the child’s blood glucose level and give them

an injection of glucagon if their glucose level low notifies the student’s parents to start by prepping the

vial of glucagon and injecting a full syringe of liquid into the vial shake the vial until the powder

dissolves withdraw as much of the liquid as needed for a child fifty pounds or more that would be

one milligram or a full dose for someone under fifty pounds 0.5 milligrams or a half dose turn the

child on his or her side pull the syringe and needle out from the vial inject the child in the mid-thigh

muscle area as soon as the child wakes up feed him or her if the child isn’t awake after 15 minutes

give another dose when the child awakens have them sip on some juice and notify his or her once

again refer to your guide for detailed instructions the key to managing type 1 diabetes in the the

the setting is being prepared students should have a file at their that includes a management plan an

emergency plan and what is called 504 plan samples of these plans are included as a PDF with your

guide what should you expect from the students themselves that depend on their age parents usually

take care of everything for children under 8 children between 8 and 12 may be able to start doing

their own shots insulin doses and blood glucose levels should still be checked by an adult between 13

and 18 most students are pretty independent when it comes to their management some however still

require assistance or supervision these students will need individuals at who knows what to do for a

diabetic emergency regardless of age students would type 1 Diabetes have a right

type 1 diabetes causes