How's Your Professional Health?
Jan 27, 2016, 18:27 PM
I
hope your new year is going well so far! If you are like me, you spend the better part of each day helping your patients with diabetes to identify and set goals so that they can implement the changes they desire. One of those changes might be losing weight—but of course, to make it a SMART goal, we help them drill down to what actual activity or behavior change they want to make to improve their chances of achieving those goals.
We assist our patients with making their goals more specific, assuring their goal is measurable, attainable, realistic and then discussing the time frame in which our patients think they might be able to implement and achieve their goals. We help them to explore and implement better eating habits by teaching them to read labels or by demonstrating to them what a ½ cup of veggies or fruit juice actually looks like. We discuss shopping tips and techniques so our patients have a better understanding of what they are purchasing. We might discuss mindful eating with our patients or new ways to prepare foods to make it more interesting and palatable.
Have you set some personal and professional goals for yourself for 2016? Would you like to be healthier physically? Maybe you need to “walk the walk and talk the talk” as they say. Maybe it’s time to focus on your professional health.
We often need to troubleshoot with our patients to overcome the multiple barriers they have put up as to why they cannot exercise or increase their activity: no time, no safe location, no energy. Or, we explore ways our patients can increase adherence to their medication regimen—do they need to obtain a medication box or set the alarm on their phone as a reminder to take their injections or their oral medications? Then there is glucose monitoring and the many challenges that can present: too painful, not enough time, not enough supplies due to insurance restrictions.
During these busy days, we might forget to work on our own goals. Have you set some personal and professional goals for yourself for 2016? Would you like to be healthier physically? Maybe you need to “walk the walk and talk the talk” as they say. Maybe it’s time to focus on your professional health.
AADE has many professional development opportunities for you. There is a brand new 2016-2018 Strategic Plan which was released in December. It discusses the organization's plan for the next three years and guide our mission in providing support for diabetes educators and our members.
Is one of your goals to be a more active member? Our organization is looking for members to become a part of the AADE National Leadership Team. You will discover an entirely different view of Diabetes Education—information beyond the borders of your daily challenges to encourage and enlighten you in your professional growth.
Maybe it’s time to focus on becoming a CDE. AADE has numerous educational activities that are available live or online. If that is too daunting for you, or maybe you are just not quite ready, there are other opportunities to expand your knowledge and skills.
Now is also the time to start planning to attend AADE16 in sunny San Diego next August.
Explore the website and see how AADE can help you to fulfill your 2016 goals.
About the Author
Barbara Walz is an RN, BSN and has been a certified diabetes educator since 1986. Since 2000, Barbara has coordinated a multi-site diabetes study examining the macro-vascular effects of diabetes at the South Texas Veterans’ Healthcare System under the supervision of Dr. Ralph DeFronzo.