The Diabetes Epidemic

The Diabetes Epidemic: Innovative strategies to educate patients and train the trainers

As in much of the U.S., diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in Virginia. According to a 2010 estimate, almost 14% of Virginia’s adult population had diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes. It is especially prevalent in rural areas of the state, including southwestern and south-central Virginia and the Eastern Shore peninsula. To reduce the potentially devastating impacts of the disease, education and prevention are key. But progress depends upon the availability of well-designed and easily accessible education programs for patients, and plenty of well-qualified trainers at the local level.

The Virginia Center for Diabetes Professional Education plays a crucial role in addressing both these needs. With its multidisciplinary staff (Anthony McCall, MD, PhD, Joyce Green Pastors, RD, MS, CDE, and J. Terry Saunders, PhD) it has been a unique resource for diabetes patients and educators across the state since 1987.

Only about 60% of people in Virginia diagnosed with diabetes have received any diabetes education, experts believe. To address this need, in 2006 the Center began offering tele-education programs on diabetes self-management to “critical access” hospitals, health districts, small rural hospitals, community health centers, and assisted living facilities in areas of the state at high risk for diabetes but with limited access to educational resources. The program brings live, free, interactive diabetes classes, taught by certified trainers from the UVA Diabetes Education and Management Program, to these regions, with technical support from the UVA Office of Telemedicine. In 2012, a series of four classes covering the major areas of diabetes self-management were broadcast four times over eight months, reaching 444 participants in 15 sites across the state.

To increase the supply of well-qualified diabetes educators at the local level, Green Pastors and Saunders completed a course in 2013 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, which certified them as master trainers for the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP). They now conduct two-day “train the trainer” courses for diabetes coaches and educators from around the Commonwealth who in turn disseminate the CDC’s prevention program to the local level.