Sam is a 15-year-old boy and has just been admitted to ward 3 following a 2-day admission to the intensive care unit: Human Growth and Development Assignment, OC, Ireland

Sam is a 15-year-old boy and has just been admitted to ward 3 following a 2-day admission to the intensive care unit. Sam was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes  2 months ago. His admission to ICU was due to poor control of his diabetes, which led to Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

Type 1 diabetes requires Sam to record his blood sugars 3 times a day and administer injections twice daily. He also has to adhere to a controlled diet.

Sam has never been admitted before and has had all his education as an outpatient. Sams’s admission toward 3 is for the management of his diabetes and further education. On admission to the ward Sams’s mother, Nora, appears very anxious and upset. When speaking to Sam, you notice she appears angry and frequently tells Sam ‘I told you this would happen.

Nora takes on the responsibility for Sams’s condition and states ‘he’s only a child, how can he take control of it’. But yet Nora expects Sam to take responsibility for his illness. Her husband has type 1 diabetes also and she is very much aware of what can go wrong. She cries ‘if he doesn’t start taking responsibility for this he will get all the complications’, and says ‘after all I know what’s best for him. ‘This is the way it is and he just has to accept it!’