Sounds like you are doing an amazing job! I totally get the frustration with some HP’s. I have a few examples as no doubt we all do
1/ When I was a district nurse about 40 years ago, one of my patients was a T1 who absolutely refused to do his own insulin. He was my first and last visit each day. One morning I found a note to me, from his GP, saying “ Mr. P. Is feeling nauseous today so please omit his insulin.” Yeah, right, Doc.
2/ when I was a student nurse I was in line at the counter for morning tea, I had a bread roll on my plate. A senior nurse came up behind me, snatched the plate out of my hand and at the top of her voice said “You’re not allowed that, you’re a diabetic!”
3/ I was in hospital when I was about 14. A nurse came to me with my insulin and told me she would inject it. i told her I did my own injections. Probably the first time I had argued with any adult, let alone one with any authority. She huffed off to get the senior nurse to make me comply. The senior nurse backed me up! YAY!
4/ A Lady who had had T1 for years and years was brought to tears when she was in the emergency department, and a nurse checked in her bag for medicare cards and reprimanded her because “You’re a diabetic, what are you doing with sweets (candy) in your bag?”
5/ And this is by far the most extreme and awful such memory I have:- I saw a patient who was about 40, and quite heavy around the middle. He was diagnosed as T2, and advised to diet and exercise. No improvement, went back to doctor and put on tablets, and more tablets and more tablets. No improvement, saw a nurse educator who told him to eat less and exercise more. He finally saw a specialist, was correctly diagnosed as type one, by which time he had lost most of his eyesight.
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