The status of a diabetes educator who has studied the Diabetes Educator Course is a privileged one. Acquiring notions related to life with diabetes and accepting all the challenges that come with this diagnosis, is the sure way to balanced diabetes and kept in control where the risk of complications is minimal.
The Diabetes Educator Course trains an individual and makes him a health specialist with competence in providing educational and moral support, as well as in promoting self-management of diabetes by the person concerned.
The roles of the diabetes educator are as follows:
- Supports people with diabetes to manage their condition with all the resources at their disposal;
- Provides educational support and encourages patients to make informed decisions and act on the best information received;
- Improves the quality of life of people with diabetes and reduces the risk of developing complications.
The diabetes educator is an integral part of the multidisciplinary team, in which the patient is at the forefront together with the dialectologist, the nurse, the dietitian, the psychologist, and the patient’s family members.
The best care that a person with diabetes can receive is one that is based on a close collaboration between all these participants in the therapeutic act. Creating a long-term partnership will be the basis of balanced diabetes, in which the risk of complications will be significantly reduced.
For a quality medical act, the diabetes educator will put himself in the patient’s shoes, taking into account his lifestyle (family habits, work schedule, cultural habits), as well as how the patient feels the impact of diabetes on his life, including on his social relations.
Specifically, the diabetes educator will help you learn to manage all the things you will have to take care of every day immediately after receiving the diagnosis: diet, physical activity, medication, blood glucose monitoring, body weight control, emotional support.
Here are some specific situations in which you can get help from a diabetes educator:
- You are newly diagnosed and need advice on your daily diet;
- You are recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes and you need help for a good pregnancy and an optimal development of the fetus;
- You are recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes and want to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes;
- You are on insulin treatment and you want to know exactly how to calculate your units for each main meal;
- You are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and want to know how to dose your insulin depending on how much physical activity you do and what you should eat before and after a workout.
In addition, there are some key moments in the life of a person with diabetes, in which the role of the diabetes educator is very important:
- At the time of diagnosis of diabetes;
- At the annual health assessment;
- When there are difficulties related to the financial part, emotional or related to the usual medication;
- When there are changes in the person’s health.
In clinical practice, the greatest satisfaction diabetes educators can have is when a patient manages so well to lose weight and balance their blood sugar through the nutritional intervention program that they no longer need any treatment for type 2 diabetes.
If you are interested in this profession, then we suggest that you should turn to Diabetes Educator Courses.