Diabetes nurse specialist, Maria Carr works in the Adelaide, Meath and National Children's Hospitals, Tallaght
My day starts at around 7.30 a.m. and the first hour is taken up with getting organised to see patients in the diabetes day centre at the hospital.
My primary role is to educate patients about their diabetes and offer support to them and their families.
I have a fixed appointment list for the morning and I'd usually see four or five patients between 8.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. These would often include a newly-diagnosed patient with diabetes type II who would need information about his/her condition.
I would also advise such a patient on the importance of a healthy lifestyle - healthy eating, not smoking, a moderate alcohol intake (with at least two alcohol free days per week) and exercising for 30 minutes per day.
Another patient may need help with the self-monitoring of their blood sugar levels and an explanation of the complications of diabetes such as damage to the eyes, heart and kidneys.
Another patient might be someone who isn't following their treatment correctly. Here, my role would be to encourage and re-educate if necessary on the important lifestyle issues in diabetes type II. Some days, I would give a talk and show a video on Diabetes to a group of seven or eight patients.
I take my lunch between 12.30 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. In the afternoon, I go to see patients on the wards who have been referred to me by the nurses and doctors there. Here, the patients are more likely to be newly-diagnosed patients with diabetes type I or patients with diabetes type II who have complications.
Diabetes type I, which is usually diagnosed in childhood or adolescence, occurs when no insulin is produced by the pancreas.
Diabetes type II occurs when the pancreas produces too little insulin or can't properly use the insulin that is produced due to a build up of fat tissues in the body.
Obesity and lack of exercise are the chief causes in the huge increase in diabetes type II in the western world.
Throughout the day, I would discuss different aspects of care with other nurses, doctors, dieticians, podiatrists and opthamologists.
What I most enjoy about my job is the challenge to communicate well with all types of patients whose have different personal situations and different levels of understanding about their condition. My aim always is to deal with an individual who has diabetes rather than "a diabetic".
What I find most frustrating is patients who don't turn up for their appointments in the diabetes day centre. This happens all too often.
When I finish seeing patients on the wards, I return to the diabetes day centre and leave for home from there at around 4.30 p.m.
(Interviewed by Sylvia Thompson)