Management of the Person with Diabetes

Develop the professional skills you need to care effectively and compassionately for people of any age with diabetes. Learn about the physiology, symptoms and impact of diabetes. Understand the various interventions available , and how to manage acute and long-term diabetic complications.

Are you a registered nurse, health visitor, midwife or other healthcare professional? Are you currently working in a hospital or community setting, where diabetes mellitus care forms a significant part of the workload? Our course will advance your skills in this increasingly important area of practice.

You’ll deepen your appreciation of inter-professional and partnership working when caring for people with diabetes. You'll also develop skills in all aspects of diabetes management, and be able to identify diabetes competencies applicable to your role.

Diabetes mellitus affects every age group from childhood to old age, so you’ll learn to support people as they come to terms with having a long-term condition at any age - empowering them to make choices about the management of their diabetes.

Diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder, involving persistent hyperglycaemia and other cardiovascular risk factors. Recent research has provided clear evidence that improving the control of blood glucose and vascular risk factors will delay and reduce the severity of diabetic complications.

Course content:

• carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism, and the roles of insulin and glucagon
• diabetes mellitus: aetiology, epidemiology, classification, clinical presentation and diagnosis criteria
• the two main types of diabetes: Type 1 & Type 2
• the impact of diabetes: children, young people and adults (including the elderly)
• non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions: lifestyles, oral hypoglycaemic agents and insulin
• the management of acute and long-term diabetic complications.

Our course includes a series of lectures, tutorials, group work and study pack, and we'll also make use of the virtual learning environment.

Assessment is by way of a 6,000-word essay, which critically analyses the care given to a client with diabetes, supported by research evidence.