Good understanding for Patients and Nursing Staff for Type 2 Diabetes.

Description: 

This is a concise guide to understanding type 2 diabetes, giving the background to the disease, understanding how a person may try to prevent this, and how the reader can maintain a healthy lifestyle whilst suffering from diabetes.

Highlights: 

This book is written by a professor who works closely with patients with diabetes and their physicians, who has first hand knowledge and extensive research experience. This person knows diabetes inside out.

Strengths and weaknesses:

Although written for an Australian audience this books is just as relevant in the UK, where patients and nurses can benefit from Professor Merlin Thomas extensive renowned research. This book is easy to follow and each chapter begins with key points, under the headings of ‘Understand’ and ‘Manage’ The key to this disease is a good diet, exercise and medication when required and is this not the philosophy for the nation to keep healthy. The problem with managing this disease, whether this is the community or in hospital is having a good understanding. At times it feels like the healthcare setting do not always understand or have a good working knowledge of diabetes.

The emphasis is on a healthy lifestyle and a good diet, all too often today our diets are high in salt, sugar and we drink too much alcohol.

The second part of this book explores complications that may arise - cardiac, eyes, feet and the renal system. This is set out well for the reader in easy to read chapters that are not overly complicated.

The resource section gives the reader access to further reading – websites by the author, diabetes organisations and useful blogs.

  

  

Potential Readers:

This is a good resource for the patient who will benefit from the information and expert guidance – whether this is healthy living or having the insight into what complications can occur.

This is an excellent guide for students or qualified nurses. It is imperative that nurses have a good grounding in diabetes to ensure this disease is managed effectively. The author quotes the World Health Organization estimates that 346 million people have diabetes, a figure that is expected to double by 2030 without intervention. We in the healthcare setting must do all we can to help patients and try to prevent this from happening to our patients.

Clinical teams do not always fully understand diabetes and this again would be a good tool for clinicians.