Page 38 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Spring 2023 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING to Help School Nurses Manage Diabetes

PITCHING IN

BY JOAN CRAMER

Managing diabetes in children involves the
near-constant scrutiny of blood glucose levels,
diabetes, on the other hand, arises more commonly in
carbohydrates, insulin doses and exercise, often with typically during childhood or adolescence. Type 2
adulthood. But with the lull in activity that occurred
the aid of complex and ever-evolving medical device during the pandemic, children and teens are now
technology. That’s why pediatric diabetes educators developing the condition at a higher-than-ever rate,
at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center reached out creating a challenge for school nurses.
to help school nurses across Maryland, “who have
been drowning in cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, “Many school nurses never learned how to manage
especially since returning to school after COVID-19,” type 2 diabetes because it wasn’t a problem in children
says Kylee Gerohristodoulos, nurse manager for Johns and teenagers, but that has changed,” says Kelly
Hopkins’ pediatric and specialty care clinics. Busin, a pediatric diabetes educator in the Division
of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Johns
Both types of diabetes are on the rise among children Hopkins Children’s Center, who initiated the effort to
worldwide, with medical researchers linking a recent help school nurses after fielding, on average, four to six
spike to the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers phone calls a day from nurses in need of guidance.
attribute the uptick in type 2 diabetes to the sedentary
36 lifestyle some kids experienced during the pandemic, Another challenge for school nurses, and a reason for
when closed schools and canceled after-school many of the phone calls, is the wide range of treatment
programs limited opportunities for physical regimens followed by children with diabetes. For
activity. “Emerging studies are showing that the instance, some kids with type 2 diabetes can control
lack of movement and exercise took a toll,” their condition with diet and exercise alone. Others
Gerohristodoulos says. require oral or injected medications, or insulin shots
and finger sticks (to measure blood sugar) multiple
Initial studies indicate, too, that infection by the times a day. Those with type 1, however, either inject
COVID-19 virus can sometimes lead to type 1 diabetes, insulin or use medical devices like insulin pumps and
an autoimmune disease triggered not by lifestyle continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), but “the pumps
factors (like type 2) but by an autoimmune reaction, and CGMs can differ and change over time,” Busin says,

JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING SPRING 2023