University Medical Center’s Diabetes Education Program at UA Recognized

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University Medical Center’s Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, part of The University of Alabama, has earned national recognition from the American Diabetes Association for providing high-quality education services to patients.

The program received the Education Recognition Award in July.

“Receiving this recognition is a wonderful honor,” says Angela Hammond, a nurse practitioner at University Medical Center who teaches in the program and who works with the center’s diabetic patients. “Our staff works diligently every day to provide the best education possible to our patients.”

University Medical Center is a multi-specialty clinic operated by UA’s College of Community Health Sciences. The ADA Education Recognition effort is a voluntary process that assures that approved education programs have met the national standards for diabetes self-management education programs. Programs that achieve education-recognition status have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals who provide state-of-the-art information about diabetes management for participants.

Self-management education is an essential component of diabetes treatment, and education programs that meet the ADA’s national standards have greater consistency in the quality and quantity of education offered to people with diabetes. Patients in ADA-recognized programs are taught self-care skills that promote better management of diabetes treatment regimens. With increased knowledge, patients can assume a major part of the responsibility for their diabetes management.

“The recognition process gives professionals a national standard by which to measure the quality of the services they provide,” Hammond says. “And it helps patients to identify these quality programs.”

ADA-recognized education programs cover the following topics: diabetes disease process; nutritional management; physical activity; medications; monitoring; preventing, detecting and treating acute complications; preventing, detecting and treating chronic complications through risk reduction; goal setting and problem solving; psychological adjustment; and preconception care, management during pregnancy and gestational management. The ADA Education Recognition status is awarded for four years.

The College of Community Health Sciences was established in 1972 in response to the state’s acute need for more primary care physicians. Many areas of Alabama, particularly small towns and rural communities, suffered from a serious lack of health care. Four decades later, the College has made significant strides in making health care more available and accessible in the state.