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Diabetes Education... Lost in Translation?
Language is the source of misunderstanding.  —Antoine de Saint-Exupery Diabetes Education is a broad term that has a variety of definitions, meanings, and interpretations. Today, diabetes Education is provided in many different settings by a wide variety of providers. This creates some confusion in the marketplace for all who interested in the care of individuals with diabetes. Education is defined as anything from a public service campaign, to brochures and pamphlet development, to brief encounters at physician offices, community settings, and pharmacies. Telephones, Internet sites, Webinars, and seminars are becoming frequently used outlets for delivering information and are emerging as the new way to reach individuals in the search to impart knowledge. Technology is also a key enabler of education, and creative software programs are making their debut in the diabetes arena. This evolution in educational methods causes us to ask, Is the diabetes Educator a thing of the past? Is our work lost in translation in the whirlwind of information and misinterpretation? Today, we are well aware that effective education must result in long-term improved health status. Information alone does not translate into action. Effective education goes way beyond the passive relay of information to a more intensive coaching that results in behavior change and improved health status that is sustainable over time. The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has defined the Health Care Outcomes Continuum.1 The steps in that continuum focus on 4 critical areas: immediate outcomes, intermediate outcomes, postintermediate outcomes and long-term outcomes. The immediate outcomes are learning, knowledge, and skill acquisition. The intermediate outcome is behavior change. The postim-mediate outcome is improved clinical indicators. Finally, the long-term outcome is sustainability of lifestyle change and long-term improved health status. The work of the diabetes Educator encompasses all 4 of these areas. Today, diabetes Educators are viewed as change agents and interventionists. They are skilled in both the delivery of knowledge and in the interventions that create behavior change. The work of the diabetes Educator must be articulated and integrated in the health care arena. AADE is positioned to define education and the role of the diabetes Educator through the launch of AADE7 IMPACTTM, Improving Management for Patient ACTion, which all AADE members received access to in September. Beginning with the development of the AADE7TM Self-care Behaviors, AADE set the standards for behavioral outcomes measurement in diabetes self-management training. We have also highlighted the need for tracking a patient's behavior change as well as the interventions performed by diabetes Educators. For AADE to define education and the role of the educator, we must build the evidence that will clearly help articulate the role of the diabetes Educator. Our future as diabetes Educators depends on all AADE members stepping up to the plate and assisting AADE in shaping the future of diabetes Education. We need all of you to help build this evidence base so we can better articulate our work and the value of our services. IMPACTTM is the tool that will collect the necessary data to allow AADE to define our roles and the outcomes of our work. The good news is that IMPACTTM is a free member benefit. AADE is working for you to help reshape the way we do our business. Log on to our Web site at www.diabeteseducator.org to discover the power of the IMPACTTM system and how IMPACTTM can assist you in your practice setting. The changing environment in health care and the adoption of the chronic care model by AADE certainly has paved the road for a new complementary model for the delivery of education. No longer can we practice education from an acute care viewpoint. We must build the evidence to change the practice. In closing, AADE is a member-centric organization. Our future depends on you. Let us work together to create the definition of diabetes Education and to clearly define our role in the diabetes arena. Participating in and incorporating IMPACTTM into your practice setting as well as remembering to bold the E when writing the word diabetes Education or diabetes Educator will create our drama! Together, we will change the face of diabetes Education and solidify our position in the diabetes arena. "Language is the source of misunderstanding." Join AADE and let us all talk the same language.
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