diabetic educators have your number

[Guest guest]

When It Comes to Diabetes, Knowledge Truly Is Power

President, American Association of Diabetes Educators

Donna Tomky, MSN, RN, C-NP, CDE, FAADE

Sep 3, 2011

When people are diagnosed with diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/> ,

things can seem pretty overwhelming. In a short time, they have to absorb a

daunting amount of information and start making significant decisions about

the way they live their lives.

For many people, their diabetes diagnosis is the first time they've heard

words like hypoglycemia

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/low-blood-sugar

/> , neuropathy

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/nerve-care-neur

opathy/> , and microalbuminuria-or even blood glucose. Despite their

unfamiliarity with such terms, they are expected to quickly grasp the

information, change ingrained eating and exercise

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/fitness/exercise/> habits, learn how

to monitor blood glucose levels, and remember how and when to take

medications.

Yet another concept with which patients may be unfamiliar is the field of

diabetes education. Many nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and others are

certified as diabetes educators, with specific training in teaching people

how to manage their condition. Diabetes education is a proven, effective way

to help people avoid some of the serious complications that may arise.

Diabetes is a complex disease that requires daily self-management. Most of

that work takes place outside of the physician's office-in the daily lives

of the patients. So it's necessary for patients to learn healthy behaviors

and make them part of their everyday lifestyle. But how do they do this?

Diabetes educators focus on seven key areas of diabetes self-management,

developed by the American Association of Diabetes Educators and called the

AADE7 Self-Care BehaviorsTM. It's important for patients to understand and

set goals for improvement in each of the following areas:

Healthy Eating - Learning to make healthy food choices by paying attention

to nutritional content and portion sizes

Being Active - Recognizing the importance of physical activity and making a

plan to start moving today

Monitoring - Learning to check, record, and understand blood glucose levels

and other numbers important to diabetes self-care

Taking Medication - Remembering to take medications as prescribed and

understanding how they affect the body and diabetes management

Problem Solving - Gaining skills to identify problems or obstacles to

self-care behaviors and learning how to solve them

Reducing Risks - Understanding the potential complications associated with

diabetes and taking steps to prevent developing them

Healthy Coping - Developing healthy ways of dealing with challenges and

difficult situations related to diabetes

Patients and diabetes educators can work together to create a plan for

approaching these self-care behaviors and implementing them in the patient's

life.

For someone who is newly diagnosed, Medicare and most private insurance

companies cover 10 hours of diabetes self-management training. Every year

after that, patients are entitled to two hours of diabetes self-management

training. AADE recommends that patients ask their doctors for a referral to

a diabetes educator. Diabetes educators can also be found at

www.diabeteseducator.org/find.

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Categories:American

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/american-association-of-diab

etes-educators-aade/> Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), Blood

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/blood-glucose/>

Glucose, Diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/diabetes/>

, Diagnosis <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/health-care/diagnosis/> ,

Glucose

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/glucose/> ,

Hypoglycemia

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/hypoglycemia/>

, Medications <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/medications/> ,

Monitoring <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/> , Nerve

<http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/nerve-care-neur

opathy/> Care (Neuropathy)

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