The Point of Possible AADE13: A Look Back
As a grateful recipient of the 2013 Massachusetts AADE Coordinating Body Scholarship, I want to take a moment to share with you my experiences from the 2013 AADE The Point of Possible AADE13 annual meeting and exhibition held on August 7-10th in Philadelphia, PA.
Attending my first AADE annual meeting was a very memorable experience. Coming together with over 5,000 other diabetes professionals from throughout the globe and choosing from over 100 educational sessions and visiting more than 250 exhibitors was truly enlightening and inspiring experience.
Having recently taken a new position with the Diabetes Management Program at Southcoast Health Systems in the Greater New Bedford/Fall River, I was looking to expand my knowledge and skills in new areas. The Southcoast region is ethnically and socioeconomically diverse and particularly impacted by diabetes with prevalence rates greater than 10%. My mission was to grow in new areas, form relationships with other educators and to be open to new possibilities in the ever changing environment of diabetes management. I would guess that you have similar ambitions in you in your professional life.
One area of our program that is expanding is the development and execution of Shared Medical Appointments (SMA). Shared medical appointments are an alternative to traditional office visit. While SMAs models vary considerably, they are one option that can be developed to meet the medical and educational needs of your patients. When organized and facilitated properly, SMA are patient-centered, interactive, empowering, where participates learn from each other’s experiences. Organizing SMAs require collaborative efforts from a multidisciplinary team of providers, educators, medical assistants and administrators. Through collaborative efforts between providers and educators SMA can result in improved outcomes and patient satisfaction. If you are interested in more information on developing SMA for patients with diabetes, read the following guide developed by the VA http://www.queri.research.va.gov/tools/diabetes/shared-med-appt.pdf.
We all know that intensive lifestyle modification is the critical part of diabetes self-management. As a certified Wellcoaches Health Coach, I continue to look for opportunities to develop my knowledge and skills of client engagement and behavior change. That led me to attend two sessions in this area; Carol Grafford, RD, CDE entitled “Are You Listening? Maximizing Effective Relationships with Patients”, and “Dancing Together: The Power of a Relationship Centered Approach” led by the husband and wife team of Herman Boudewijn Bertsch, MA and Rita Greenberg DPE.
Carol attributed her success as an educator to her practice of mindfulness meditation. Through meditation she has gained greater empathy and compassion, developing a unique rapport of openness and trust to serve her clients. Meditation provides you with a greater ability to listen deeply hear your client’s stories and be alert to their true barriers, goals and motivations.
We have all heard about the patient-centered model of patient care. As coaching experts, Herman and Rita shared their experiences with the relationship-centered model of patient care. Practical skills were presented on methods to creating trust and partnership between educator and client. Through role playing exercises, we asked “relationship questions” to explore patients’ strengths and skills. Through change questions, partners were able to co-design treatment plans. This approach is a change from the expert lead, didactic approach to patient education that has been common for many years.
If you are looking for an opportunity to learn more about the field of health coaching, register to attend the September 19th Massachusetts Coordinating Body program “Health Coaching” where our guest speaker will be Margaret Moore, MBA, Founder of Wellcoaches. This meeting will be held at the Wellesley Community Center from 5:30-8:00 pm.
In our practice we see a disproportionately high number of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The potential risk of GDM include difficulty birthing, higher rates of caesarean section, anesthetic complications and a higher chance of admission to the neonatal intensive care unit and greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes for the women. Controversies abound in the field of GDM. How should these women be tested? What test and criteria should be used? How should they be treated and monitored? I attended two excellent sessions that shed light on the diagnostic criteria and treatment options that characterize this emerging health problem for women and newborns. Currently there are three criteria for diagnosis of GDM (ACOG, IADPSG, NIH). While insulin has been the gold standard of care, some oral agents can be used safely and effectively. It is clear that management of GDM requires a multidisciplinary approach. For additional information on nutritional recommendations visit
http://www.guideline.gov/content.aspx?id=14888
The IADPSQ recommendations were published in 2010 and are an excellent resource for formulating your clinical practice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2827530/
With over ten classifications of diabetes related oral and injectable medications on the ADA/EASD Guidelines for Management of Hyperglycemia in Type 2 DM session conducted by Silvo Inzucchi, MD, from Yale. Diabetes educators are in a unique position to identify factors that may guide clinical decision making and collaborate with patient and prescribing medical professional to determine the best treatment course. Needless to say there will continue to be newer therapies available in the coming year, but thoughtful and comprehensive patient assessment and collaboration will determine the best treatment course. The ADA/EASD Guidelines are available on line at http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/35/6/1364.full
The conference was punctuated by a number of inspirational stories of educators doing impressive work in many areas, as well as informative general sessions, corporate symposia, product theater sessions and special events. While they are too numerous to review, I do want to share a few sources. Arya Sharma, MD, from the Canadian Obesity Network reviewed practical tools to guide health professionals in obesity counseling. http://www.obesitynetwork.ca/5As
BJ Fogg, PhD is a thought leader Stanford University in the area of behavior change. You can learn about some of the science and methods from his work on his websites.
http://www.bjfogg.com/
http://www.behaviormodel.org/
I tried to share with you a feel for the AADE13 Annual Meeting and Exhibition for those AADE members who did not attend. I encourage you to attend future meetings. If you were unable to attend the national meeting, register for one of the many Massachusetts Local Networking Group (LNG) meetings throughout the state. Visit the MyAADE Network for upcoming programs.
http://www.diabeteseducator.org/Members/myaadenetwork/
I’m forever grateful to the Massachusetts Coordinating Body for selecting me to receive the 2013 scholarship to attend AADE13 Annual Meeting and Exhibition. I look forward to seeing you at one of our state meetings.