Who Qualifies for Certification?

• Health care professionals who seek certification must take and pass the Certification Examination for Diabetes Educators. The examination can be taken only by health care professionals who are already working as diabetes educators. These people can come from a wide array of health care disciplines, including psychology, nursing, physical therapy and podiatry. Registered dietitians and physican's assistants also qualify, as can a diabetes educator with a master's degree in social work or at least a master's degree in nutrition, health education or public health from an accredited U.S. college or university.
  
  

Other Requirements

• In order to qualify to take the examination, health care professionals must have served at least two years as a practicing diabetes educator, logged a minimum of 1,000 hours in that capacity and must currently work as a diabetes educator for four hours a week when they apply.
  
  

Challenges Diabetes Educators Face

• Amparo Gonzalez, RN, BSN, CDE, president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), told "Endocrine Today" that "Diabetes costs a lot of money and diabetes educators are one of the solutions to this diabetes problem, [however], such challenges include financial pressures, reimbursement issues, poor referrals from physicians, decreased hours, issues with billing for diabetes self-management training and medical nutrition therapy, and a need for more educators."
  
  

Yet, The Need Persists

• Despite there being 15,000 certified diabetes educators in the United States and another estimated 15,000 diabetes educators in practice, according to the AADE, for every certified diabetes educator, an estimated 1,600 patients are in need of services. An AADE National Practice Survey from 2005 and 2006 demonstrated that "63 percent of diabetes educators reported seeing fewer than 500 patients per year, or two patient visits per day, and 42 percent reported seeing more than 1,001 patients per year, or four patients per day, according to the survey results."
  
  

A Sensible Solution

• To offset these challenges, many diabetes educators are setting up practice in
  nontraditional settings. To reach those who need diabetes education, educators are establishing clinics in large stores such as Wal-Mart and Target and local, community-based "wellness centers."