When Margaret enrolled in the NDSS National Diabetes Nursing Education Framework online learning modules, she did not realise that she would immediately start using the knowledge and skills she had learnt.

With over 118,000 people registering with the NDSS in the past 12months* the need for nurses to know how to care for people with diabetes has never been greater.

325 individuals per day are being registered with the NDSS as living with diabetes*

Margaret admits that prior to completing the modules, her diabetes education was very limited.

“I knew I needed to take blood sugar two – three times before meals, and insulin was required for some people with diabetes but I wasn't really aware of the mechanics nor importance of considering diabetes before surgeries or basic day-to-day sugar management.”

“Our hospital’s diabetes educator asks the new graduate nurses to do the self-assessment in the framework and e-learning for our CDP. So we did, and it turned out to be really worthwhile.

I was able to apply what I had learnt straight away, like with pre-surgery management, the different medications and why certain people with diabetes require certain (medication) types depending on their condition or the clinical manifestation of their diabetes.”

Margaret found the free e-learning really valuable to her practice and plans to do all modules, with the macro- and micro- vascular modules next on her list.

She would recommend the modules to all nurses and student nurses.

“Almost every second person we see on the ward has diabetes. Because it’s such a prevalent condition it would be incredibly difficult for nurses not to come across diabetes, and if you don’t understand the basics of the condition, how will you be able to appropriately manage their care?”

‘It (the modules) has been useful and beneficial for me, I truly feel that anyone in nursing will get a huge benefit from it. The modules were incredibly easy to understand. It really simplified the mechanisms by which some medications worked and how hypoglycaemia works, this made it easier for me to apply.”

Browse the resources at https://www.ndss.com.au/national-diabetes-nursing-education-framework/