Diabetes Education After Class | Long-Term Diabetes Education with Diabetes Self-Management Support or DSME

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Diabetes Self-Management Support: What an Ongoing Diabetes Education Program Means to You and Your Patients (continued)

Assessing support needs
Diabetes educators must use their skills to not only assess their patient’s diabetes but also to assess the individual’s areas of needed support. We are all aware of the physical and psychological components that encompass diabetes and we must be prepared to have in our arsenal the necessary resources to help people. We must assess our worlds and build key partnerships and relationships with communities, businesses, churches, and governmental entities to further extend our services to these individuals to provide this long-term support. Ongoing training and diabetes education to these entities is a new role and direction for diabetes educators. Building capacity for support must be a collective effort and educators must function as the nexus of this effort.

Using media for support plans
Today, technology is a key enabler to assist in chronic disease management. The use of the Internet and the availability of distance learning provide continued diabetes education opportunities for both the individual as well as health care providers. TV and media are also another avenue that can be beneficial for self-management support. TV is a tried and true means of imparting information in an entertaining way. People of all ages are in tune to this means of “edutainment”.

A great example of a support system for both people with diabetes and educators is dLife. dLife.com is one of the leading online diabetes education resources that offers information and community support for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well for the caregivers and providers. It has great features that can help individuals get questions answered, talk with others about diabetes issues, or seek help from professionals. It provides answers about all aspects of diabetes care as well as a diabetic recipe finder with nutritional breakdowns. It has become one of the leading independent diabetes websites. dLife also has a great TV show (dLifeTV) on CNBC that airs every Sunday that reinforces the importance of diabetes education.

Putting it all together
In summary, it is clear that educators must build support services into their existing programs that are individualized and communicated to people with diabetes as well as providers. Long-term successful outcomes lead to optimal health status, which is the ultimate vision of diabetes self-management training. Diabetes self-management support must be in the forefront of every diabetes education plan in order to provide the best care and service to individuals with diabetes. Our success is measured by out patients’ success. Their outcomes are our outcomes. We must build long-lasting foundations for future successes.

Henry David Thoreau very beautifully articulates a message that can be meaningful for all of us today as we embrace these new standards for shoring up the foundations of diabetes self-management education.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

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