Type 1 diabetes perioperative care: Preventing harm to patients

Abstract

Imagine you lived with a chronic condition that required you to make over 100 self-management decisions every day. Imagine you have been admitted to hospital for a day surgery procedure and the health professionals have refused your request for access to a medication you need for survival. Imagine that as a result of missing this medication you have ended up in an intensive care unit (ICU) with a life-threatening condition. The life-threatening condition is diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and the medication you needed is insulin, because you have type 1 diabetes (T1D).