Ask A Diabetic Educator Nurse Practitioner

clinical topics diabetes endocrine interviews real world topics Sep 20, 2022

An image of two women smiling with a light pink background with a text Ask A Diabetic Nurse Practitioner.

Why can’t diabetes management be like we learned in school? That was complicated enough.

Now you’re on your own, and there are so many questions with your patients to manage diabetes. Symptoms that don’t necessarily follow a straight line. All of the elements of managing diabetes that are beyond your control – patient’s motivation, cost of medications, how realistic a plan may be, how long until they can be seen by the specialist that you referred them to – it gets more complex by the minute.

[Spoiler alert: these are not issues faced exclusively by new grads, either; this is the state of play when it comes to working with diabetic patients. And the number of people with diabetes continues to grow; recent estimates show that 1 in 10 people have diagnosed diabetes; over the age of 65, that number is more like 1 in 4.]

Ask A Diabetes Educator Nurse Practitioner – Your Questions, Answered

This week, we have a great interview with Meghan Kavanaugh. She is a Registered Dietitian AND Nurse Practitioner that works exclusively with patients with diabetes. We cover a lot of ground, including:

Taking the stigma out of diabetes and diabetes management
Continuous glucose monitoring – what it is, the double-edged sword that it can sometimes be, and practical tips for patient teaching about it
Tips for the administrative challenge of working with patients with diabetes
Addressing cost for un- and underinsured patients with diabetes
Answers to the questions that YOU submitted

The landscape and tools available for helping patients to manage their diabetes is always changing, and probably always will be. Building a foundation of reduced stigma and improved practicality is a great way to move forward and support your patients with diabetes, and to help them make realistic plans to address their diabetes that will meet their needs – and yours.