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Permalink Reply by Kathyann on December 1, 2012 at 9:45am

As a nurse I received a pretty good education regarding diabetes. Problem is, they only taught me about Type 2 Diabetes. I'm thinking this minor in diabetes will also be about type 2 dabetes.

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Permalink Reply by Trudy on December 1, 2012 at 10:26am

The link leading to the UCSF article mentions teaching both Type1 & Type2 in children and adults. It sounds really great and progressive to me.

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Permalink Reply by Terry on December 1, 2012 at 10:36am

The link to the UCSF website indicates that this education will cover both Type 1 and Type 2, pediatric and adults. I think this is great. While I think that much more is needed overall, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

As the stories in another current thread on the TuDiabetes site show, the ignorance of diabetes and related technology is all too common among doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.

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Permalink Reply by Stuart on December 1, 2012 at 10:53am

By in large, quite annoyed by the diabetes education most "white coats" receive. Nothing is devoted to the mental health component, the psychological issues which our chronic care demands.

Every little bit helps, so this sounds like a start. I contend their education should contain a panel of diabetics to present and explore ideas about the many treatments they wish to provide for us. Questions from the audience for the panel and the reverse as well.

I also propose that there should be another layer/level of the education process, a subset specifically for and using experienced diabetics. As a community we can be invaluable help to our peers, if it were encouraged more. IMHO...

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 1, 2012 at 11:20am

I think that it's great that they'd have a program of this nature. Former member sufu had posted a blog about his own experience in medical school (MD, rather than nursing...) and recounted spending like an afternoon on diabetes, both kinds, that presented the disease shockingly simplistically. If anything, it made me more suprised that a lot of the doctors I've encountered, GPs, convenient care, ER docs, etc. have seemed to be reasonably well-informed about diabetes.

Every doc I see asks me about my mental health component although I believe that if you answer "yes" in some manner, you get a referral to a psychiatrist rather than immediate treatment.

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Permalink Reply by DianaS on December 1, 2012 at 9:11pm

While I think this is great keep in mind this is not a general program for all nurses going through UCSF. This is a particular track in the Master's degree program most likely for those wanting to become an ARNP.

If you research the BC-ADM credential it's basically an advanced type of CDE and requires 500 hours of experience in diabetes education/diabetes related practice and a masters degree or higher to even sit for the exam. These are nurses that will probably be working in endocrinologists offices rather than general practice or hospital based jobs.

http://www.diabeteseducator.org/ProfessionalResources/Certification...

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Permalink Reply by nel on December 1, 2012 at 9:44pm

http://www.michener.ca/ce/postdiploma/diabetes_educator.php
http://www.cdecb.ca/
The criteria in Canada :
"HOW TO BECOME A CERTIFIED DIABETES EDUCATOR
The examination Handbook contains the necessary information you may require and should answer your questions regarding eligibility and process. You will find the application form there. Please refer to the Examination Handbook and the FAQ's online prior to submitting questions to the office."
From this Patient Point of View : there are Fantastic!!,less Fantastic and even less Fantastic CDE's no matter who are the Leaders Teaching ...we have to have Hope to get the BEST and also express what we are in need off .I have had the best Insulin Pump Nurse CDE since I started pumping in 2001 ...she is about to retire :(

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Permalink Reply by PedsRN on December 2, 2012 at 6:36am

It's great that there will be more specific education provided for the nurse preparing for her masters. As a nurse myself, I have always seen the lack of diabetes education at the bedside level, and have often thought that with the epidemic numbers we have why don't states mandate specific CEU's required yearly like they do for HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, etc...Of course where I live now, in Maine, there are NO state required CEu's needed for licensure.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 2, 2012 at 6:53am

I've read news stories, etc. that there's a significant demand for nurses so it seems unlikely that the powers-that-be will make nursing more challenging or implement any sort of new paradigm to make our lives easier. I sort of have the impression, just from my own medical experiences, that they are following the "manual" closely.

In many cases, perhaps the volume of patients may contribute to pushing nurses, doctors and other medical providers, however "nice" they may be personally (and not all of them are...) to adopt a "you do this..." approach that is patently absurd with patients like us, who have to run our own shows since there's rarely useful medical support available except at appointments or via channels, email, txting or whatever, that may or may not provide the sort of "Jack Bauer", real-time solutions that PWD come up with on our own, 40 or 50 (at least!) times per day.

The network I go to has been pretty much useful and given me my space. The surgery was interesting but the surgical team were 100% on board with leaving the pump on and pretty much letting me do what I wanted with it. I dunno what would have happened if it had started bleeping at them 1/2 way through the procedure if my BG went the wrong way but, as it turned out, it was very smooth sailing.

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