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Planning required when traveling with diabetes

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Annual Meeting of the CDA/CSEM

TORONTO — Patients with diabetes can safely travel, but planning in advance is required.

Patients should have information regarding the local diet of their travel destination, and the degree of activity they will be participating while traveling, according to Gail MacNeill, RN, BScN, MEd, CDE, a clinical nurse specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. These two factors will affect blood sugar levels, she said.

“It is critical to know the departure and arrival times to adjust their insulin,” MacNeill said, noting that crossing time zones will also increase or decrease the need for insulin, depending on the travel direction. “You don't want patients to have highs and lows.”

Patients should carry a physician letter indicating their need for possessing diabetes supplies. “Carry the pills in the bottle with the label on it,” she said, adding that security guards can confiscate medications that are not labeled.

A prescription should be on hand, as well. Although it is not valid overseas, a physician can duplicate the prescription, MacNeill said. Patients with diabetes should also wear a bracelet indicating they are insulin users.

It is important for patients to bring extra insulin pens, pumps, infusion sets, cartridges and batteries if they are traveling, as well as a copy of their current pump settings, Celia Fredericks, RN, MScN, CDE, said.

“[Patients should] always keep a hard copy of current pump settings,” Fredericks said. If the settings are kept on a mobile device and that device is lost, that information is lost as well.

For more information:

• MacNeill G. #41. Presented at: Annual Meeting of the Canadian Diabetes Association/Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism; Oct. 26-29, 2011; Toronto.

Disclosure: MacNeill report no relevant financial disclosures.

[Patients with diabetes] are often greatly worried about maintaining their health when they are away. One of the great ideas mentioned is that you find out about the food content where you are going and how it can fit into your meal plans.

– Lee McNiven, RN, CDE,
Diabetes Educator
Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Disclosure: McNiven reports no relevant financial disclosures.

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