Essential Patient Education for Diabetes

Diabetes Patient education should be integrated into regular clinical diabetes care and should incorporate the following process:

Diabetes education should be shaped by both an initial and an ongoing needs assessment of the patient. The assessment process has to be appropriate to the individual(s) with diabetes and can include one or more of the following strategies

• confidential assessment of physical, psychosocial, spiritual, cultural and socioeconomic needs as required.
• focus groups.
• needs survey of community

Learning Plan

A learning plan needs to be developed as part of the care plan with the participative involvement of the patient to incorporate his/her learning objectives and set out achievable and realistic short-term and longterm goals. This is achieved through

• collaborative goal-setting.
• processes appropriate to the culture of the individual with diabetes or the community.
• a clear and full explanation of options and choices available to the individual with diabetes.
• the individual with diabetes making decisions that are respected by the team members, even if they do not agree with the decision.
• identification of resources needed to support healthy living with diabetes

An effective education plan reflects an effective integration of

• current principles and practices for diabetes care and education.
• flexibility in approaches to teaching and learning.
• physical, psychosocial, cultural and socioeconomic issues related to the person or community that impact on diabetes care.

The following outcomes which could be evaluated based on the process

• Biomedical measures. This is demonstrated when the following indicators are maintained within, or progress towards, the individual's goal range
  • blood glucose.
  • glycated haemoglobin.
  • serum lipids.
  • weight indicator.
  • blood pressure
• Knowledge.
• Diabetes self-care skills, eg self-monitoring, insulin injections.
• Behavioural, psychosocial and quality of life outcomes - Individuals with diabetes reporting or demonstrating increased ability to accomplish goals for healthy living with diabetes that are important or meaningful to them as in
  • identifying ways or taking action to alter physiological processes, personal behaviour and/or social conditions that impede their desired quality of life
  • perceptions to barriers to self-care and lifestyle changes and increased personal control with regard to living with diabetes.
  • emotional adjustment.
  • satisfaction with diabetes care.
  • well-being.
  • integration of diabetes self-care into their work, family, personal needs and interests.
  • their desired quality of life. Validated quality of life measures should be used.
• Number of episodes of hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia.
• Diabetes-related absence from school/work.
• Emergency visits and/or hospital admissions for reasons directly related to diabetes mellitus.