Continuing Professional Development: Diabetes in pre-hospital care

After completing this module the paramedic will be able to:

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If ever there was a disease which could win an award for being complex, diabetes would definitely be up there. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a long term condition of high blood sugar. It is a condition of hormones, a condition of metabolism and a condition of inflammation. These multiple aspects give rise to various long term complications that the paramedic should be aware of.

Insulin is required for uptake of glucose from the blood into the cells. There are a number of classifications of diabetes including type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) where there is a lack of insulin production. There is a classification of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) which was classically of mature onset, although with western diets, sedentary lifestyle and increased adiposity the mature aspect is seen as occurring much younger at diagnosis. T2DM is more linked to resistance of a cell to recognise and use the produced insulin.