Wear a CGM – Try to live as your patients as a CDE

When I was studying to become a CDE, students in our clbad who did not have diabetes had the task of living as if we had diabetes requiring insulin for a given period of time. It was very useful. At that time, we did not have a continuous blood glucose meter (CGM), but we had insulin, flasks and syringes (not sure of the pens but I do not remember those), glucose meters, and other supplies. We gave ourselves a normal saline solution as it was insulin, checked our blood glucose at least four times a day, counted the number of carbohydrates and all the rest needed to manage our " diabetes "daily. An incident that struck me is that of a friend who simulates hypoglycemia while waiting for her food at the restaurant. It was a pretty revealing time for all of us.

From that, I learned to try to make the patient experience as much as possible. With the new technologies, this has been very informative and has helped me avoid disasters for specific patients. Another thing that helped me was not having to take more time to learn while I was at the office, which meant that the office was backed up because I was late for from other patients, etc.

One of the many examples of the need to put oneself in the patient's shoes is years ago, before we knew how annoying all the alarms were, especially when we could not turn off some of the alarms. I put the alarm bell at ease. The CGM warns me several times a night to warn me of impending hypoglycemia. As my blood sugar was between 70 and 80, it would go out. He did not stop waking my husband. From this experience, I learned how to set targets / alarms so they do not fire as often. For my patients who are not unaware of hypoglycemia or whose hypoglycemia does not concern me, I often choose a system that does not trigger the alarm.

When I wanted to personally try the CGM that does not give alarm, the Abbott freestyle flash, the first thing my husband said was: "I hope this stuff "I did not badure him and he did not, it was not a problem, he even wore one to check, so not only did I learn how my patients would react, but also how family members and other family members might react.

I learned so much by wearing a CGM myself. See Lessons learned to know more. If you have tried to live as your patients and have learned lessons, please let us know.

• Buying or trying to buy a system or sensor has made it easier to understand what a patient must undergo only to get one.
• After taking my reader with me when the labs were traced, I learned that my blood sugar was the same as in the lab. This has given me more confidence in her. Also tell patients the gap so that they understand that it may not be as close as expected and hope to have more confidence in their GCM.
• M helps to tell my patients what they feel and even to warn them of the loud click when inserting.
• M & # 39; aided in learning to warn patients of factors likely to block the sensor, such as knocking them on door openings, rubbing too vigorously with a towel after bathing or showering, and donning and removing shirts or bras that go beyond the head.
• Having forgotten to take my reader and take it away with me in bed one night and skipping readings helped to prevent them from the possibility. The next time I wear it, I'll learn how to set it up on my phone and teach my patients how to do it. Most people take their phone to bed.
• Having had what looks like hypoglycemia during the first 24 hours of wearing a new sensor, I learned that if they did not run the risk of hypoglycemia, they did not have to worry about hypoglycemia. Yes, they should still check with a finger so that when they have an event, they can see the difference at times like this.
• How to put a sensor and remove one myself, which allowed me to teach patients to do it themselves.
• How does one feel when a sensor comes off.
• Nothing like living what we ask our patients.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Joy Pape, FNP-CDE
Medical Editor, DiabetesInControl

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