Paired Glucose Testing With Telehealth Support to Empower Type 2 Diabetes Patients

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

bloodglucosetestingType 2 diabetes is challenging for those trying to meet blood glucose target ranges, often requiring one or more daily medications, increases in exercise, changes in eating habits, and self-monitoring of glucose level. Those who are willing and able to learn about factors affecting their glucose level and to make small daily efforts in one or more areas have the potential to radically improve their sense of control over their diabetes.

This month’s Diabetes Under Control column, “Better Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management Using Paired Testing and Remote Monitoring” (free until April 1), presents a successful story of patient engagement in diabetes self-management. It describes the case of a participant in a clinical trial who, with clinician support, incorporated paired glucose testing (self-testing before and after meals) and telehealth (remote patient monitoring, or RPM).

The article is easy to follow and gives a series of biweekly updates on the patient’s progress. Before the study starts, she’s not very engaged in self-management. For example, she’s only testing her own glucose level three to four times a month. To get a sense of how much more empowered she’s come to feel by week 12 of the protocol, consider this brief excerpt: […]

2016-11-21T13:03:02-05:00February 13th, 2015|digital health, Nursing, patient engagement, Patients|4 Comments
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Take a Walk: American Heart Month, for Nurses and Everyone Else

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

By Eric Hunt/via Wikimedia Commons By Eric Hunt/via Wikimedia Commons

So we all know what we need to do to prevent heart disease: eat a healthy diet (such as the highly touted Mediterranean diet, which has been “consistently effective with regard to cardiovascular risk”), get regular exercise, and don’t smoke. But most of us—and I’m guilty—don’t quite follow the advice we may give our patients or family members. It’s difficult to carve out time for oneself in addition to working all day (and for most nurses, we’re not talking a nine to five day—many work 12-hour shifts, or at least a 10-hour day if in administrative positions), plus commuting and then spending time with family. If you have school-age children in activities, there are also car pools and homework.

We need to find 30 minutes—or even 20 minutes—daily to jump-start our own engines. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, heart disease kills one in four women and is the leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States. And while genetics certainly plays a part, cardiovascular health is mostly about prevention. So make a 30-minute appointment with yourself and stick to it.

The American Heart Association (AHA) initiative highlighting heart disease in February is a good reminder to us all, especially […]

2016-11-21T13:05:31-05:00February 3rd, 2014|nursing perspective, personal health practices|0 Comments
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The Seven Surprises: What I’ve Learned About Nursing Through Yoga

By Medora McGinnis, RN, whose last post for this blog was “Practically a Nurse: Life as a New Graduate RN.” Medora is now a pediatric RN at St. Mary’s Hospital in the Bon Secours Health System, Richmond, Virginia, as well as a freelance writer. As a nursing student she was the Imprint Editor for the National Student Nurses Association.

By HealthZone (The Star) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons Hot Yoga (Bikram), by HealthZone (The Star), via Wikimedia Commons The room is dark, and hot; 105 degrees, to be exact. I carry my mat, towel, and water bottle to the back corner of the room and settle into my space. I drink some water and lie down, trying to let go of all of the thoughts racing around in my head. A few minutes later, class starts and we start breathing, moving, stretching, and sweating . . . and really sweating. I’m shaking as I try to hold my plank position (which I still have to modify on my knees), then relaxing into a forward bend. Breathing, drinking water, moving, and stretching—and without realizing it, my thoughts are only about the present moment.

When I decided to try hot yoga about a month ago, I knew it would help me reduce stress and gain flexibility, and I was even hoping I’d lose weight. As a present day RN and a former ballet dancer, I looked forward to some of the health benefits I’d heard […]

2021-06-17T15:01:35-04:00March 21st, 2013|nursing perspective, personal health practices|4 Comments
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Gym Class, or Physical Education?

Photo by Krossbow, via Flickr

By Michael Fergenson, AJN senior editorial coordinator

Gym class. Some of us may have memories of a brusque man tossing a ball into the middle of the gym, telling us to play and occasionally blowing a whistle. Popular culture certainly portrays the “gym teacher” in this way—or worse, sometimes they’re cast as the villain. I put gym teacher in quotes in the last sentence because my dad would get angry with me if he heard that term, or “gym class” for that matter. My father considers himself a physical educator. When people call him a gym teacher, which is most of the time, he replies with the quip: “The gymnasium is the room that I teach in, but I am a physical education teacher.”

There’s something more important going on here than mere semantics. Is this pop cultural view of the gym teacher causing harm to students? I believe so.

My father has been a physical educator for a little more than 20 years. For a long time I had the same negative view of gym teachers as most people. That was until I began to study education myself. I definitely wasn’t going to be a gym teacher—oh no, it was literature for me. I would be a high school English teacher, […]

2016-11-21T13:10:03-05:00May 23rd, 2012|Nursing, personal health practices|3 Comments
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Sarcopenia and Me – Or Why Exercise Really Matters as We Age

By Karen Roush, MS, RN, FNP-C, AJN clinical managing editor

Recently I started an exercise program with a personal trainer. I’ve been a runner for 25 years, even ran five marathons. I’ve never had a problem being disciplined about running four or five days a week, no matter what the weather. But I’ve never been able to stick to any other exercise program for more than a week or so. Working with weights, yoga, step classes, just doing push-ups in my living room when I get back from a run—never stuck with any of them.

Getting older isn’t kind to those who don’t exercise. Years ago my lack of upper-body fitness was hardly noticeable. Shoveling snow, raking leaves, playing racquetball, carrying my kids around, all of it kept me in good enough shape. That’s not the case now that I’m in my fifties. Lifting my grandson above my head—not happening. Hanging a new shower curtain – three clips – rest – three clips – rest…

When I found I couldn’t blow-dry my very short hair without lowering my arm repeatedly because of muscle fatigue, it was time to do something about it.  That’s when I decided to invest in a personal trainer. It was expensive—but I figured I would just do it long enough to make exercise, other than […]

2016-11-21T13:11:13-05:00December 7th, 2011|nursing perspective, personal health practices|3 Comments
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