Theme 2. Optimizing capacity of interprofessional teams
Presentation Materials (Members only)
Presentation Slides: "Welcome to your new reality – you have diabetes this week!"
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Describe an innovative educational process to understand the patient experience of living with a chronic condition.
- Reflect on their own clinical practice related to working with patients with diabetes.
- Explore the possibility of implementing this program in their own clinical setting.
Summary
The Diabetes Education Team at the Sunnybrook Academic Family Health Team believed that exposing professionals to the tasks involved in the day-to-day management of the diabetes would increase their understanding of the complexity and time associated with self-management. This session will describe a program developed and offered to the interprofessional team including family medicine residents, faculty physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social worker, OT, and support staff to provide them with the opportunity to live with diabetes for a week. Learning objectives were developed and the nurse educator and dietitian provided the participants with a health history and scenario entitled "Welcome to Your New Reality". Through the course of the week, they progressed through ~ 8 years of living with diabetes. Self—glucose monitoring, insulin "dry" injections, paging the participant informing them they were experieincing low blood sugar and medication changes were all part of the program. The team met every morning to debrief expereinces, consider how they would counsel patients in a similar situation and to provide new scenarios and challenges. By going through the program team members learned about the patient experience of living with diabetes (i.e. how to fit diabetes into one's life) and about each other's roles and perspectives around caring for patients with chronic conditions. The program is now offered ~ every 2 months.
Presenters
- Sunnybrook Academic FHT:
- Leigh Caplan, RN, BSc, MA, CDE, Diabetes Nurse Educator
- Judith Manson, RN, BScN, NCMP, Executive Director
Authors and Contributors
- Nancy Teskey, RN, BScN, CDE, Diabetes Nurse Educator
- Jill Zweig, RD, BAA, CDE, Dietitian