Diabetes Self-Management Education

Is Diabetes Education and Self-Management Right For Me?

Seeing your doctor and taking prescribed drugs is an important part of your diabetes care plan. Self-management is just as important. It includes lifestyle changes and monitoring your response to medications.

Diabetes education and self-management teaches you how to do these things. And caring educators give you the extra support and encouragement you need to stick with it.

Diabetes Education and Self-Management Program at Nuvance Health

Our diabetes education and self-management program provides education that's tailored to your needs in small group classes or working one-on-one with an educator or registered dietitian.

We take time to get to know you and your care goals and learning preferences. This information helps us explain topics in ways that are clear and easier for you to follow. We take extra steps to make sure you understand lessons and how they apply to your circumstances.

What Will I Learn During Diabetes Self-Management Classes?

Self-management classes help you manage your health. We cover a range of topics that include:

• Condition information: All about diabetes, how it affects the body and possible complications
• Healthy eating: Recommended foods and how to change old habits
• Footcare: How diabetes can affect your feet and the importance of daily checks for cuts, blisters or wounds that don’t heal
• Medications: The drugs your doctor may prescribe, how they help and when to take them
• Monitoring blood sugar levels: How and when to check levels and what to do if they are abnormally high or low
• Exercise: Why exercise is important and ways of getting more physical activity into your day
• Emotional challenges: Negative feelings that living with diabetes may bring, including stress and depression, and how to cope with them

Diabetes Self-Management: What To Expect

You get more out of diabetes education when you attend all of the recommended classes. Even if your life gets busy, it’s important to make time to keep going.

We start each class with a review of what we’ve covered and then build on that knowledge with new information. You’ll have “homework” between classes, such as recording what you eat or daily blood sugar levels. It can be a lot to keep up with, but following these steps may have a lasting impact on your well-being, and we’re here to help.

Get Started Now

You need a referral from your primary care physician or diabetes specialist (endocrinologist) to participate in self-management classes. The referral provides specific information about the type of education you need. Make an appointment.

Who Pays For Diabetes Self-Management Class?

Insurance often covers a specific number of hours of diabetes self-management services. If you do not have insurance or run out of hours, you still have options. Nuvance Health offers community-based diabetes education sessions that are available to you at no cost and without a physician referral.

Ask your primary care provider or endocrinologist for assistance determining which option is right for you.