Blood Glucose Laboratory: Collective Experiences at Three US Medical Schools

Abstract

Abstract This Blood Glucose Laboratory was originally conceived and implemented at the Medical College of Wisconsin over 20 years ago as a learner-centered and patient-centered activity. More recently, the University of Utah School of Medicine (2009) and the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (2012) have adopted similar exercises. Therefore, rather than doing so separately, the authors decided to collaborate on this publication to include the collective experience, and three complete versions of a blood glucose laboratory for end users who may be interested in adopting a similar activity into their institutional curricula. The central activity of this half-day laboratory involves having learners determine their fasting blood glucose levels, followed by additional determinations at specified times after eating different breakfast meals. Real time display in the form of graphs showing the various aggregate profiles for each breakfast meal is a powerful way to demonstrate the effects of diet on blood glucose levels. Collectively, our breakfast menus are designed to illustrate the effects of a high glycemic index (high in glucose), high fiber, high fat, and no carbohydrates with high fat (based on the Atkins diet). However, each institution has adopted variations on this theme for their specific groups of learners, with somewhat different learning objectives, and activities interspersed between the post-prandial blood glucose determinations that help keep learners actively engaged during the entire laboratory session. Learner satisfaction has been high at all three institutions.

Keywords

• Interprofessional Education
• Diabetes
• Blood Glucose
• Nutrition
• Interprofessional Relations
• Patient-Centered Care