Partnering with diabetes educators to improve patient outcomes

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease that affects millions worldwide. The paradigm of diabetes management has shifted to focus on empowering the person with diabetes to manage the disease successfully and to improve their quality of life. Diabetes self-management education is a collaborative process through which people with diabetes gain the knowledge and skills needed to modify their behavior and to self-manage successfully the disease and its related conditions. Diabetes educators are health care professionals who apply in-depth knowledge and skills in the biological and social sciences, communication, counseling, and pedagogy to enable patients to manage daily and future challenges. Diabetes educators are integral in providing individualized education and promoting behavior change, using a framework of seven self-care behaviors known as the AADE7 Self-Care Behaviors™, developed by the American Association of Diabetes Educators. The iterative process of promoting behavior change includes assessment, goal setting, planning, implementation, evaluation, and documentation. Diabetes educators work as part of the patient’s health care team to engage with the patient in informed, shared decision making. The increasing prevalence of diabetes and the growing focus on its prevention require strategies for providing people with knowledge, skills, and strategies they need and can use. The diabetes educator is the logical facilitator of change. Access to diabetes education is critically important; incorporating diabetes educators into more and varied practice settings will serve to improve clinical and quality of life outcomes for persons with diabetes.

Diabetes Self-Management Education; Experience of People with Diabetes

“…12 Interviews were conducted in a private and quiet place based on the participants’ choice. All the participants signed the consent informed form.…”

Next Generation Wellness: A Technology Model for Personalizing Healthcare

“…In addition, measures of patients' self-effi cacy and literacy may be useful in selecting and developing appropriate educational approaches and partnerships (such as with diabetic educators) [ 76 ].…”

Applying quality improvement into systems-based learning to improve diabetes outcomes in primary care

“…This situation places increasingly greater emphasis on patient education and shared decision-making about medication benefits and risks, lifestyle modifications including diet and exercise, and self-care practices. [3] Background Approximately 28 million people in the U.S, or 9% of the population, have type 2 diabetes and are at risk of, or affected by, related complications including heart disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. [4] Direct and indirect costs of diabetes in the U.S. are estimated to total $245 billion.…”

“…[5] Gaps are especially evident for racial and ethnic minorities, groups that account for a large proportion of people with diabetes in the U.S. [5][6][7][8] From a patient-centered perspective, important factors that contribute to suboptimal diabetes care include ineffective communication between health care professionals and their patients, and shortcomings in provision of patient education and counseling about medications and lifestyle. [3,9] Gaps in compliance with these types of patient-centered quality measures were recently reported by researchers who analysed the medical records of 27,225 patients with diabetes and 584,587 encounters with their primary care providers. [10] Only 40% of the patients' records indicated that providers offered lifestyle counseling, and only 10% documented medication intensification, which reflects a lack of communication and shared decision-making about appropriate therapy changes.…”