While you manage your patients’ care, diabetes educators can empower them to manage their diabetes. They teach, coach and guide patients so they understand their diabetes and how it affects their personal lives, and work with them to set (and meet) behavior change goals to improve their health.
Diabetes care and education specialists are licensed healthcare professionals – registered nurses, registered dietitians and pharmacists, among others – who receive special training in:
- biology
- social sciences
- communication
- counseling
- education
Diabetes care and education specialists help people with diabetes:
- Learn basic information about diabetes and its management
- Understand how to use diabetes devices, such as blood glucose meters, insulin pens, insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors
- Adopt healthy eating habits through nutrition education, including meal-planning, weight-loss strategies and other disease-specific nutrition counseling
- Develop problem-solving strategies and skills to self-manage diabetes
- Monitor blood glucose and learn how to interpret and appropriately respond to the results
- Understand how their medications work, including their action, side effects, efficacy, toxicity, prescribed dosage and more
- Develop skills for handling stressful situations
If you currently are not working with a diabetes care and education specialist, visit – or direct your patients to – our diabetes care and education specialist locator tool.
What is DSMES?
DSMES services help people live a healthy life with diabetes. DSMES will give you support to manage diabetes in a way that works for you and your lifestyle. You’ll learn practical skills to manage your blood sugar, eat well, be active, and solve problems to help you live well with diabetes.
How will DSMES help me?
DSMES can help you improve your blood sugar levels so you can prevent or delay serious diabetes complications, such as heart disease, kidney disease, and vision loss. This improvement can help you avoid emergency care, save money on health care costs, and improve your quality of life. People who participate in DSMES are more likely to have better overall health.
How can I find DSMES services?
Your doctor may refer you to a specific DSMES program, or you can visit the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists or the American Diabetes Association to find a program near you. Once you’re referred to DSMES, you may be able to participate through telehealth, for convenience.
Will my insurance cover DSMES?
Insurance coverage of DSMES varies, but many plans cover diabetes education. Medicare covers up to 10 hours of DSMES (called diabetes self-management training or DSMT in the Medicare system) if you’ve been diagnosed in the past year. Contact your insurance provider for more information about your benefits.
Diabetes Management Program Education Materials
What is diabetes? What is insulin? How does diabetes affect the body? Marie McDonnell, M.D., Chief of the Diabetes Section of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension at Brigham and Women's Hospital, answers patients' most commonly searched questions about diabetes.
In addition, the materials below are provided for patients, family members and caregivers of patients with diabetes, from the newly diagnosed patient to those in the long term diabetes management phases. The series, from Mass General Brigham, includes:
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Type 1 Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Type 2 Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Know Your ABC’s
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Self-monitoring of Blood Sugar (Glucose)
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, High Blood Sugar (Hyperglycemia)
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia)
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Diabetes Medicines - Insulin
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Learning About Insulin Pens
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Common Medications to Treat Type 2 Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Being Active
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Healthy Eating for People with Diabetes
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Carbohydrate Counting
- Diabetes: Just the Basics, Sick Day Guidelines
What is Type 1 diabetes? What is a typical day like for someone with Type 1 diabetes? What kind of care team do you need with Type 1 diabetes? Marie McDonnell, M.D., Chief of the Diabetes Section of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension at Brigham and Women's Hospital, explains how to stay healthy with Type 1 diabetes.