Brush Up on Diabetes Education

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I hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable summer—and, just a reminder, you can extend your summer this year by attending the upcoming ACNP 2010 National Clinical Conference in Tampa, Florida, October 20-24.

The focus of this edition of JNP is endocrinology, a field that is primed for nurse practitioners. Unfortunately, the reason for this is the epidemic of diabetes occurring in this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1980 through 2007, the number of Americans with diabetes tripled from 5.6 million to 17.4 million. By 2008, the number jumped to 24 million people with diabetes and an estimated 57 million people with prediabetes.

An interesting figure from the American Association of Diabetes Educators notes that the majority of diabetes educators are nurses, with 40% describing themselves as registered nurses, 7% indicating they were clinical nurse specialists, and 4% who identified as nurse practitioners. Yet, as far back as 1999 Seley et al.¹ noted, “One obvious advantage of being an NP is that NPs can legally adjust the diabetes medications, order diagnostic tests, and refer patients for consultations. Diabetes educators who are not NPs are often faced with delays in treatment, lack of continuity of care, and additional expense for patients in obtaining physicians' orders.”

While I'm not suggesting that all NPs need to become certified in advanced diabetes management, I'd like to drive home the point that the number of people with diabetes is rapidly growing and that those of us in primary care will be seeing more and more of them in the near future. We need to make sure that we are appropriately prepared to treat and educate our diabetics or at least have a Board-Certified Advanced Diabetes Management (BC-ADM) colleague with whom we can collaborate to ensure that our patients receive the best care possible!

See you in Tampa!

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Reference 

1. Seley JJ , Furst P , Gray T , Jornsay D , Wohl NR . The diabetes nurse practitioner: promoting partnerships in care . Diabetes Spectrum . 1999;12(2):113–117
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