Preparing to take the CDE exam… “Thank you sir! May I have another?”
I have been a CDE since 1995. Personally and professionally I have significantly benefited from pursuing and maintaining this credential. Accordingly, whenever someone who is not a CDE talks to me about becoming one, I strongly encourage them to go for it.
As anyone who has the credential knows, every five years the CDE must be renewed. In the “old days” we would have take the CDE exam every five years in order to renew it. Back around 2004 a transition was made that allowed CDEs to review their credential with CEUs (75 units in a five year period). To many of us this was like manna from heaven, as this proclamation meant, provided you secured your CEUs every five years, never having to study for that #$%&@# test again!
When this edict from on high was dispensed I was all over it because I was actually four years into my five year cycle which meant that I would only have to secure a prorated 15 units of approved CEU credit and I would be good for another five years. So I dutifully gathered my 15 units of credit and promptly forgot about the whole thing. A good six months after picking up my credits it dawned on me that I should probably report the credits to the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators. On an early Saturday morning I pulled out the instructions for documenting my CEUs and learned that the deadline to turn in those credits was Friday, the day before I bothered to look at the paperwork.
On the following Monday I hastily called the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators to let them know that I had accidentally missed the date to turn in my CEUs by one day. Their response to my predicament was basically, “talk to the hand”, and make sure that you remove CDE from your business cards and any correspondence that you send with your credentials on it. After going though each and every one of the stages of grief in about 30 minutes, I came to the realization that if I wanted to get my CDE back I would have take that #$%&@# test again!
To say the least, letting my CDE accidentally expire was a very embarrassing and humbling experience. However, in the long run the experience was actually very edifying and positive for a variety of reasons. At the time that I lost my CDE I was managing a group of RDs in an outpatient health education department for a Kaiser facility in Southern California. I was doing some diabetes work, but was not doing it anywhere close to full time. As I dug in my heels and began to study to take that #$%&@# test I found myself actually learning a thing or two, or three.
The good news is that in addition to getting back up-to-speed on some important diabetes information, passing the CDE exam is worth 75 CEUs in the world of maintaining one’s RD credential. Essentially if you are an RD, and you are willing to prepare, take and pass that #$%&@# test every five years, you can knock out five years worth of RD and CDE units with one test at a cost of $250, a relative bargain in a world of escalating CEU prices.
All of that said, it is five years later and my CDE is up for renewal at the end of 2011. This year I was a little more proactive than I was five years ago. In January 2011 I signed up to take the test in the first testing period (in the event that I would screw up the exam and have to take it again before the end of the year). On June 30th, the last day of the first testing period I took as passed the CDE exam one more time. To prepare for the exam I read and studied all 770 odd pages of the second edition of the AADE publication “The Art & Science of Diabetes Self-Management Education Desk Reference.” During the preparation process I learned a ton, and hated every minute of it.
Just like the aspiring Omega Theta Pi pledges in the movie “Animal House”, in 2016 I am guessing that I will once again steady myself and proclaim “Thank you sir! May I have another?” before I open the latest edition of the The Art & Science of Diabetes Self-Management Education Desk Reference, and begin the process once again.
In my next installment I will share some of the nuggets I extracted during my preparation for the 2011 CDE exam.
....Don Kain, RD, LD, CDE