Diabetes Toolkit for Practice Nurses

Authors:Elaine Newell

Abstract Introduction: Part of my role as Diabetes Nurse Specialist for Integrated Care is to support practice nurses and general practitioners to manage type 2 diabetes in the community. I developed the ‘Diabetes Toolkit for Practice Nurses’ to assist practice nurses in supporting patients with self management of their diabetes and promote integrated care.Description of policy: Diabetes education can be time consuming and this toolkit is a practical resource containing checklists and education aids to assist practice nurses in providing the right information in a short space of time that will ensure continuity of care. The toolkit consists of an A4 binder and inside contains visual aids such as poster, prompt cards, health eating and physical activity diaries and resources which are all user-friendly, adaptable to different literacy levels and learning needs. The toolkit comprises of different sections including diabetes education, treatment and monitoring, patient resources and resources to support patient education. Information sheets can be photocopied from the resource or printed off an USB that has PDF version.Targeted population: The toolkit was developed for practice nurses but general practitioners can also use the resource. Highlights: Verbal feedback from practice nurses has been very positive and they have commented on how timely and valuable the resource has been for them especially when the Diabetes Cycle of Care programme being rolled out in Ireland. Comments on transferability: The toolkit was developed initially for the practice nurses for Galway city and county. However, the patient education elements are all transferable. The section dealing with treatment and monitoring are based on local guidelines from the diabetes centre University Hospital Galway. This section is easily adaptable to reflect local guidelines for other areas.Conclusion: The Diabetes Toolkit for Practice Nurses is a very practical resource that is providing essential support and guidance to practice nurses in the management of type 2 diabetes. Review of the diabetes toolkit is being carried out at present to gather feedback on what other topics will help improve it.

Keywords:

diabetes, toolkit, education, empowerment, continuity

How to Cite:

Newell E. Diabetes Toolkit for Practice Nurses. International Journal of Integrated Care. 2017;17(5):A596.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.3916Published on 17th October 2017