The Florida Hospital Waterman diabetes self-management education program has been awarded recognition from the American Diabetes Association for high-quality education services to the patients it serves.  The ADA Education Recognition effort, begun in the fall of 1986, is a voluntary process which assures that approved education programs have met the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education programs.  The ADA Education Recognition program has grown to become the leading quality assurance mechanism for diabetes self-management education programs across the country. 

One outcome of compliance with the National Standards is greater consistency in the quality and quantity of education offered to people with diabetes.  Applications for Educational Recognition receive a rigorous and thorough review by the ADA, and programs that achieve this recognition demonstrate that they have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals that provide state-of-the-art information about diabetes management for participants.

According to the ADA, approximately 20.8 million people in the United States have diabetes.  While an estimated 14.6 million have been diagnosed, as many as 6.2 million people are not aware that they have this disease.  Many will first learn that they have diabetes when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications, such as heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve disease and amputation.  Since 1987, the death rate due to diabetes has increased b 45%, while the death rates due to heart disease, stroke and cancer have declined. 

Through appropriate self-management, unnecessary hospital admissions and some of the acute and chronic complications of diabetes can be prevented.  Participants in the Florida Hospital Waterman diabetes self-management education program are taught self-care skills as needed to promote better management of their diabetes treatment regimen.  Topics include the diabetes disease process; nutritional management; physical activity; medications; 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.