A new medical education programme for diabetes healthcare providers in the UK is focusing on upskilling the knowledge and training of diabetes management technologies & devices
More people than ever in the UK have diabetes. And if nothing changes, more than five million people will have diabetes in the UK by 2025.[1]
This past autumn, Glooko launched a new online medical education programme for clinicians who treat people with diabetes in the UK. The programme, known as Academy™ by Glooko, is helping clinicians keep their knowledge base current on the ever-growing assortment of new diabetes management technologies that manufacturers make available to people with diabetes.
The programme was inspired after discussions with the National Health Service England (NHSE), as part of its effort to ensure that all healthcare professionals learn uniformly about diabetes management technology – outlined in the NHS’s recently released GIRFT (Getting it Right the First Time) diabetes guidelines.[2] The curriculum for Academy™ was developed in collaboration with the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) / Diabetes Technology Network-UK (DTN-UK).
Removing barriers to technology
Diabetes technology has traditionally been a bit of a niche area, with access to devices like insulin pumps being below 15% of people with type 1 diabetes and subject to large variation in access. And healthcare professional (HCP) education and familiarity with technology has often been cited as contributing factors, hence clinician education may help ‘remove’ these barriers to access.
However, recent policy changes in diabetes, such as the wide-spread roll-out of flash glucose monitoring, and access to continuous glucose monitoring in pregnancy is forcing many diabetes services to upskill, which means that healthcare professionals that are not necessarily used to dealing with technology are coming into contact with it. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of technology that allows remote monitoring has been apparent.
The Academy™ education programme is directed at healthcare professionals (HCPs) and focuses exclusively on diabetes health tech, including almost 30 hours of educational content divided into 7 key modules covering insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitoring, sensor augmented pumps and remote monitoring prepared by the top experts in the country. The intent is to increase knowledge, training and usage of these devices – ultimately improving patient outcomes. All courses are accessed through Glooko’s diasend® diabetes data management app and portal. Among the courses that are included:
- Continuous Glucose Monitoring
- Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Pregnancy
- Sensor Augmented Pumps (SAP)
- Flash Glucose Monitoring
- Pumps (CSII)
- Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose (SMBG)
- Virtual Consultations
The programme is available to all diabetes healthcare professionals in the UK at no cost, and is funded in part via sponsorships from global industry partners like Abbott, AgaMatrix, Dexcom, Insulet, Medtronic, Roche Diabetes Care and YpsoMed.
Setting a new standard for professional development
ABCD/DTN UK provides guidance on educational content and ensures that the programme aligns with current and future National Health Service England (NHSE) policy/pathways.
“Academy™ is an important investment that sets a new standard for professional development in the diabetes medical technology industry,” said Russ Johannesson, Chief Executive Officer of Glooko.
“In collaboration with the NHSE and ABCD/DTN UK, we’ve developed a new, extensive curriculum that will not only equip HCPs to access training that is relevant to their technology skills development, but it will also build a wider range of their capabilities as we move increasingly towards a remote patient monitoring (RPM) environment.”
The curriculum covers over 95% of the diabetes device manufacturers and their technologies, and healthcare professionals earn CPD accreditation from the Royal College of Physicians and the ABCD/DTN-UK for completing the programme.
With a goal of at least 300 clinics in the UK being trained through the Academy® med ed programme, it is off to a very strong start, having received over 250 clinics signed up since November 2020.
“As diabetes technology becomes increasingly widespread in routine clinical practice, we need to train all levels of our diabetes and wider health workforce in what these technologies are and how to use the large amounts of data they generate,” Professor Pratik Choudhary, Professor / Honorary Consultant in Diabetes and Chair of DTN UK, said. “Use of these technologies has transformed how we deliver care, especially during these challenging times. We firmly believe that the collective efforts that we’re cultivating with world-class digital health companies like Glooko will create more value and positively impact outcomes that matter to people with diabetes.”
For more information about Academy™ click here.
Sources
- Diabetes Facts and Stats: Diabetes UK, 2020.
- Diabetes GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report; National Health Service England; November 2020; Gerry Rayman, Partha Kar; p. 20.
- Diabetes Self-management Education and Support in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Consensus Report of the American Diabetes Association, the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of PAs, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the American Pharmacists Association Diabetes Care / American Diabetes Association (ADA) – June 8, 2020.
*Please note: this is a commercial profile
