Ever since I was a sophomore in college, I knew that I wanted to be a dietitian. What I never really considered at the time was that the majority of my career would be spent as an educator. In college I studied chemistry, biology and nutrition, but only took one education course. During my dietetic internship I continued to study science and even business classes, but little time was spent learning about patient education. For those of you who are nurses or pharmacists, was the same true for you?

Do we need more training in education? For those of us involved in delivering diabetes education, acquiring the skills needed to help facilitate behavioral change, as well as more training in principles of education, would be beneficial. Do you feel that “facilitators of behavioral change” might be a better title for us than “educators”? When I hear educate I think of the definition to give instruction. To my ears, this connotes a more didactic approach. Since diabetes is mostly a self-managed disease, we are doing the patient a disservice if our teaching philosophy is to tell the patient everything we know.

When I speak to you on the phone, I often ask you, as diabetes educators, to share your teaching philosophy or the approach you like to take when educating your patients. These are your most common responses:

– Patient-centered
– Meet the patient where they are
– Ask the patient what they most want to learn
– Be the guide on the side
– Help patients explore solutions to their questions and problems
– Empower the patient

These answers are likely why you enjoy using the Conversation Maps as your educational tool of choice. The Maps allow patients to be an active part of the decision making process for diabetes management. If there are any of you that prefer a more didactic approach to education, you probably have a difficult time embracing the Conversation Map tools. I would refer you to Martha Funnell and Robert Anderson’s writing on diabetes education and patient empowerment. They write, “ As providers, we have to give up the illusion that we have control of our patients’ diabetes self-management decisions and outcomes.”

The patients possess that control. Whether we call ourselves educators, facilitators, coaches, guides or mentors, we are there to engage, help patients explore solutions, and support them to make informed decisions about managing their disease.

According to the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education, DSME has evolved from primarily didactic presentations to more theoretically based empowerment models.

I know that just because it is written, does not necessarily mean it is so. There may still be many diabetes educators who prefer the titles of “sage” or “guru.” While there may be a place for these titles, I don’t feel that it is in the diabetes classroom.

For those of you who may work with educators using a didactic approach, invite them to attend one of your Conversation Map sessions, and see how fun and effective patient-centered learning can be!

Cathy