“Our mission is to ensure that every individual with diabetes, or at risk for diabetes, receives the best possible care,” said Phyllus Justice, diabetes resource coordinator for USA Mobile Diagnostic Center. “Our approach offers an experienced, patient-focused team of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, dietitians and certified diabetes educators to achieve positive outcomes for our patients and the community.”
According to Justice, self-management education is an essential component of diabetes treatment. “Diabetes is a condition that is largely self-managed with approximately 99 percent of care becoming the responsibility of the patients and those involved in the daily management,” she said.
One benefit of compliance with the national standards is greater consistency in the quality and quantity of education offered to people with diabetes. The patients in an ADA-recognized program are taught self-care skills that will promote better management of his or her diabetes treatment regimen. “In the recent past, research has shown that patients who have a full diabetes care team have improved knowledge and self-care behaviors, lower A1c, lower weight, improved quality of life, reduced all-cause mortality risk, healthy coping, reduced health care costs and better outcomes,” Justice added.
All approved education programs cover the following topics as needed: diabetes overview; nutritional management; physical activity; medications; monitoring; preventing, detecting, and treating acute complications; preventing, detecting and treating chronic complications through risk reduction; goal setting and problem solving; psychological adjustment; and preconception care, management during pregnancy and gestational management.
Assuring high-quality education for patient self-care is one of the primary goals of the Education Recognition program. Through the support of the health care team and increased knowledge and awareness of diabetes, the patient can assume a major part of the responsibility for his or her diabetes management. Unnecessary hospital admissions and some of the acute and chronic complications of diabetes may be prevented through self-management education.
Justice said the target of diabetes education recently has grown to include individuals with pre-diabetes for the purpose of preventing progression to Type 2 diabetes. “Pre-diabetes is a condition of elevated glucose, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes,” she said. “It is clear that the onset of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or significantly delayed, with the most impressive results for doing so coming from lifestyle changes rather than pharmacologic intervention.”
Founded in 1986, the ADA Education Recognition effort is a voluntary process which assures that approved education programs have met the National Standard for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs. Programs that achieve recognition status have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals who can provide state-of-the-art information about diabetes management for participants.
For more information, contact USA Mobile Diagnostic Clinic at (251) 633-8880.
