Question

A ten-year-old is admitted to the emergency room with new symptoms of abdominal pain and vomiting for four hours. He has elevated glucose (450 mg/dl), and his urine has ketones, indicative of severe diabetes. He is given fluids and admitted to the intensive care unit, where a second glucose remains very elevated at 260. In the early hours of the morning, when the nurse finds him unresponsive, she calls an emergency code. The cardiac arrest team arrives, begins resuscitation, and obtains a glucose of 560, which is sky-high. The boy is finally treated with IV insulin and recovers with appropriate treatment.

After this event, the provider says to you: ""We looked into it, and there's no reason for you to be upset. He's fine. The good thing is that we treated him quickly. Our physicians did a great job in the emergency room, and thank goodness the code team was able to get him out of the serious condition he was in once he was in the intensive care unit. You're in good hands. If you were the patient's parent, how would this statement make you feel?
A) The provider empathizes with how awful the situation is.
B) The provider is minimizing your feelings.
C) The provider is minimizing the impact of the disease on the patient.
D) The provider is self-aggrandizing.

Answer 1

The provider's statement in response to the ten-year-old's emergency seems to minimize the parent's feelings, rather than fully acknowledging the severity of the diabetes-related episode.

Step-by-step explanation:

Understanding Hyperglycemia and Diabetes Mellitus

When the glucose level in the blood increases beyond the renal threshold for glucose, which is 180 mg/100 ml, the condition known as glucosuria occurs. This is because the kidneys' capacity to reabsorb glucose is exceeded, leading to the excretion of glucose in the urine. For instance, in the case of the ten-year-old with elevated glucose levels, this indicates severe diabetes with hyperglycemia, as illustrated by glucose levels of 450 mg/dl and later 260 mg/dl even after initial treatment.

Diabetes mellitus is characterized by high blood glucose levels or hyperglycemia, which can result from defective insulin production or insulin resistance in tissue cells. Over time, persistently high glucose levels may cause damage to various organ systems. Moreover, oversupplying insulin can lead to hypoglycemia, with symptoms such as muscle weakness, and in severe cases, unconsciousness or death.