Discovery Sheet
A Discovery sheet can be used to help the patient understand how the food they eat and the exercise they do affects their diabetes. This tool can be downloaded from here. The patient needs to understand how to use the discovery sheet and understand what their recordings are telling them.
Using the DISCOVERY SHEET
The DISCOVERY Sheet is a tool that has been developed to help people with diabetes be more active in understanding what is happening to their blood sugar control. It is a myth that health care professionals are able to “sort out” diabetes control; only the person with diabetes can do that. Health care professionals can help make sense of information about diabetes and make suggestions about different treatments but the main effects on blood sugar control are often related to the effects of food and exercise – which are under the control of the person himself or herself!
The aim of the DISCOVERY sheet is to help you gain some insights into what is happening to your blood sugar control in relation to your daily activities. It is intended as a tool to use occasionally NOT on a regular basis. Once your have completed the sheet for the first time, it is best that your discuss the results further with a diabetes specialist nurse or dietician who will help you make some sense of what is happening and help you make some changes that will assist you with your diabetes control.
- Collect the information on blood sugar levels, food types and amounts, insulin dose (if applicable) and exercise for the 7 days.
- Try not to make any judgements about the results you are seeing until you have the whole picture.
- Before seeing the diabetes nurse/dietician, consider the following :
What information about your diabetes has this given you
What surprised you about the results?
What concerns you most about the results?
What questions do you have about the information you have collected?