HND701: Pathophysiology of Diabetes
Assessment task 2: Written assignment
Key information
• Due: Thursday 10 June, 2020 – no later than 11.59 pm AEST
• Weighting: 40%
• Word count: 2000 words
Purpose
Knowledge about the pathophysiology and diagnosis of diabetes is fundamental to be able to provide evidence-based, person-centred care for people with diabetes. This assessment task will assist you in the development of this knowledge.
Task description
Meet Simon. Simon is a bubbly 13 year old boy who loves playing cricket and teasing his 9 year old sister. Last month Simon had to miss the last three cricket matches of the season when he was diagnosed with influenza.
Simon has just returned from year 7 school camp. He noticed that when he was away he was very thirsty and passing more urine than usual and had trouble keeping up with his mates on the camp activities. He thought he was still recovering from the flu. When he got home from camp his Dad thought he looked thinner and unwell so took him to the GP.
The GP suspects that Simon has developed diabetes. The GP uses the point of care blood glucose meter to check Simon’s blood glucose level and finds that it is 15.9 mmol/L. He uses the blood ketone meter to check for ketones and the result is 2.6 mmol/L.
Your task:
There are 2 parts to this assignment. Dedicate equal weight to each section.
Part 1
Identify what type of diabetes is consistent with Simon’s symptoms and clinical features. Explain your rationale and the investigations and clinical assessments that should be performed to confirm the diagnosis and type of diabetes for Simon, including when, how and why these are performed.
Part 2
Describe the pathophysiology of diabetes in relation to the clinical presentation of Simon’s diabetes. Explain the metabolic abnormalities observed in Simon’s case study in contrast to normal carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism.
Instructions
• Use information from what you have learned from the course material, readings and your own research of the topic.
• Draw on concepts provided in the unit.
• Familiarise yourself with the online resources provided on Future Learn.
• Access relevant contemporary evidence to support the information in your essay. References should mainly include refereed journal articles and text books.
• The suggested readings in the unit are a good place to start. References to non-peer reviewed websites, information designed for consumers and/or Wikipedia are not appropriate for this assessment task.
• Make sure you self-assess your assignment against the marking rubric available before submission. This enables you to make sure all the required areas have been covered.
Presentation requirements
• Front page: to include student name and number, Assignment title and word count.
references page, reference citations and direct quotes.
A reference list should be provided on a separate page headed ‘References’ at the end of
Font:
All text needs to be aligned to the left, not justified.
Structure
Your assignment must contain a purposeful introduction outlining some general background to the topic, an aim and purpose and themes for discussion (approximately 10% of the word limit).
The body of the assignment will constitute about 80% of the word limit and provide key arguments supported by literature. The body of the assignment is normally organised in paragraphs of approximately 150 words with each paragraph focused on explanation of one idea. There should be a logical progression of ideas as demonstrated by logically linked arguments/discussion made in each paragraph. Each paragraph should commence with a topic sentence and end with a link to the next paragraph.
The conclusion paragraph should provide a summation of ideas, draw together the discussion, present no new material (references are not expected in the conclusion paragraph) and offer your position drawn from the discussion (approximately 10% of the word limit).
Academic writing style
The conventions of written English are expected to be followed to ensure clarity of discussion. This includes correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling as well as the use of appropriate sentence and paragraph structure. It is also expected that word choice will be formal and professional language will be used.
Resources for essay writing
The following links provide guidance for essay writing
http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills
http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/academic-style http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/essay-writing http://www.apastyle.org/
Referencing
Acknowledge sources and adhere to referencing conventions as per APA Style www.deakin.edu.au/referencing
Paraphrasing and direct quotations
Unless really necessary, most assignments do not require the use of direct quotes. Instead, reexpression of author arguments (paraphrasing) into your own words is required. Paraphrasing of author arguments/statements must be supported by a reference. If a direct quotation is used, you must explain how it adds to the discussion and provide a reference as per APA Style guide 6.
Turnitin (Feedback Studio)
The Turnitin/Feedback Studio is a program that allows you to check whether there is any copied material in your assignment. Checking prior to submission in the dropbox gives you the opportunity to correct any errors. See the following link to Turnitin
https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/help/about-clouddeakin/help-guides/assessment/plagiarism
Academic integrity, plagiarism and collusion
Plagiarism and collusion constitute extremely serious breaches of academic integrity. They are forms of cheating, and severe penalties are associated with them, including cancellation of marks for a specific assignment, for a specific unit or even exclusion from the course. If you are ever in doubt about how to properly use and cite a source of information refer to the referencing site above.
Plagiarism occurs when a student passes off as the student’s own work, or copies without acknowledgement as to its authorship, the work of any other person or resubmits their own work from a previous assessment task. Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose, with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assignment or other work.
Work submitted may be reproduced and/or communicated by the university for the purpose of assuring academic integrity of submissions: https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studysupport/referencing/academic-integrity
Submission details
Your assignment is to be converted to a PDF document before submission. Please check the document before submitting to the dropbox to ensure the formatting has not changed. Software for converting word documents to PDF is available to download from the Deakin software catalogue at no cost.
This assignment task is to be submitted through Turnitin – via the Assessments tab in the course Program Page in FutureLearn.
To ensure appropriate support is available should any technical issues arise, you are strongly advised to submit your assignment before 4pm on the due date.
You are responsible for ensuring that the correct version of your assessment task is properly uploaded into the correct assessment dropbox.
Extension requests
Requests for extensions should be made to the Unit Chair well in advance of the assessment due date. Please follow the link for detailed information and extension request form.
Special consideration
You may be eligible for special consideration if circumstances beyond your control prevent you from undertaking or completing an assessment task at the scheduled time. See the following link for advice on the application process: http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/assessment-andresults/special-consideration
Assessment feedback
Feedback on your assessment task will be available after the result release date from where you submit your assignment. Feedback is provided via the rubric, comments throughout your assignment and in the feedback box. Review your feedback and use it to help you in your next assignment.  

 For assistance with finding sources, refer to the Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources document.Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.​