What Would You Do?
A resident with diabetes regularly wakes early and asks for breakfast around 5am. Staff provide toast, but by 6am she asks for more food.
Staff are concerned about her blood sugar levels and try to limit additional food. When told “no,” the resident becomes verbally abusive and, on one occasion, took another resident’s breakfast.
The team feels stuck:
* Some say, “We have a duty to manage her diabetes and keep her safe.”
* Others argue, “She has the right to choose what she eats — even if it’s not ideal.”
* Meanwhile, other residents are being affected when their food is take
If you are concerned you can contact gp or out of hours for advice you can also off low carb snacks or food to stop the sugars going too high if they are insulin dependant you can seek advice to possibly give extra fast acting insulin to bring the levels down essentially you need to seek advice from medical proffessionals and habe it inputted in there care plan because then it is documented
If the resident is considered as having mental capacity. By all means he/she has the ability to decide what and how much they want to eat. But if reserve is the case in terms of their mental capacity, the management has to decide what steps to take in view of maintaining the blood sugar and also meeting the resident's request for food.either changing the type of food offered and also managing the quantity
she might be waking up because her blood sugar is dropping too low in the night? If her body is in starvation mode, her aggression isn't "bad behavior" it’s a physiological survival response.
Request a 72-hour glucose review. If she is spiking and crashing, the toast might actually be causing the 5am wake up.
I agree with you Lee Smith.
Staff are worried of this lady's blood sugar levels but there is no report that they check how much the levels are? if the lady is getting into hypoglycemic, she might require this toast at that time and her body is telling her.
You can not starve anyone to keep the glucose levels good, rather have her doctor review her meds maybe there is need for adjustments.