Day 4
A couple nights ago, a few group members and I met our patient to ask her a few questions in an interview. As it turns out, she was actually learning new jiu-jitzu moves/taking a class to practice them when we arrived. Even though I had only planned to ask her questions once she finished exercising, I thought to myself, “What better opportunity to see how diabetes affects her everyday life by observing her in one of her everyday life activities?” While she was exercising, you would never notice that she had a health problem; she learned the moves as well as everyone else in the class. However, she did have to stop and check her blood sugar multiple times. After we talked to her, she said that she checks it more or less depending on the intensity of the exercise. I thought it was very beneficial to observe her doing something first and ask questions about why she was doing those things afterwards. This unexpected opportunity to watch our patient complete everyday tasks was great way to pick up any subtle effects of the disease that she might not notice because she deals with it every day and they have become second nature to her.
– Jordan H
BME Design 