Petal50
Active Member
- Messages
- 43
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Yesterday I attended the first week of this xpert course, so thought i would share my experience with everyone here.
This was the first time this course was held in my home county of Fife in Scotland, and it was held at a brand spanking new community hospital in St Andrews. So the NHS was keen to get it right to keep funding for it.
10am start... parking was a bit of a ****** though.
There were two educators, both ladies, one was the diabetic dietitian (name removed) and (name removed) not sure what her title is, but will find out next week.
We were a small group of, 2 gents, 4 ladies and one husband brought by one lady for support.
After general intros of each other the professionals set to work following the format laid out for them, being the first time for them too they were alittle unfamiliar with the props but coped well with giving us the info on what diabetes is and how it is linked to other conditions eg blood pressure, liver ,kidney problems. also foot care and why! we all asked questions as they came to mind and i felt most of us had the same concerns. things like explaining medication,what test results mean, weight problems and activity. Out of the 6 of us only 2 tested our own bg with meters at home! :shock: I know i was shocked by this too. I anticipate by the end of 6weeks we all will have meters.... as so many of them have little confidence in managing their bg levels at the moment. And as much as i felt my gp wasn't very informed about diabetes, I was the only one with a complete copy of blood test results for the previous twelve months, which came in handy when the educators were explaining HBA1C test results.
But most of all it was great to be part of a group that had so much in common. I think by the end of the 6 weeks we will be like old friends able to support each other without feeling like idiots for asking what to some may be stupid questions. :roll:
Next week... weight management, that'll be good for a laugh after looking at the book they gave us to study about the course. In general I feel everyone enjoyed the morning even though one lady did say to me during a comfort break that she didn't think it was the right course for her personally... she really only wanted to be given a menu of food she could eat and recipes safe for diabetics!
Saying that when we went back in and were all discussing the importance of hba1c tests and knowing our resultsshe did seem as if she wanted to find out more about her own results and the educator assured us all they were there to give us confidence to question gp/practice nurses who did not explain issues properly.
To say some of the others have been T2 for many years I felt more informed than all of them, thanks mostly to all my forumites HERE!!! Thank you.
Will update from week to week but would throughly recommend this course to all, not just diabetics!
This was the first time this course was held in my home county of Fife in Scotland, and it was held at a brand spanking new community hospital in St Andrews. So the NHS was keen to get it right to keep funding for it.
10am start... parking was a bit of a ****** though.
There were two educators, both ladies, one was the diabetic dietitian (name removed) and (name removed) not sure what her title is, but will find out next week.
We were a small group of, 2 gents, 4 ladies and one husband brought by one lady for support.
After general intros of each other the professionals set to work following the format laid out for them, being the first time for them too they were alittle unfamiliar with the props but coped well with giving us the info on what diabetes is and how it is linked to other conditions eg blood pressure, liver ,kidney problems. also foot care and why! we all asked questions as they came to mind and i felt most of us had the same concerns. things like explaining medication,what test results mean, weight problems and activity. Out of the 6 of us only 2 tested our own bg with meters at home! :shock: I know i was shocked by this too. I anticipate by the end of 6weeks we all will have meters.... as so many of them have little confidence in managing their bg levels at the moment. And as much as i felt my gp wasn't very informed about diabetes, I was the only one with a complete copy of blood test results for the previous twelve months, which came in handy when the educators were explaining HBA1C test results.
But most of all it was great to be part of a group that had so much in common. I think by the end of the 6 weeks we will be like old friends able to support each other without feeling like idiots for asking what to some may be stupid questions. :roll:
Next week... weight management, that'll be good for a laugh after looking at the book they gave us to study about the course. In general I feel everyone enjoyed the morning even though one lady did say to me during a comfort break that she didn't think it was the right course for her personally... she really only wanted to be given a menu of food she could eat and recipes safe for diabetics!
Saying that when we went back in and were all discussing the importance of hba1c tests and knowing our resultsshe did seem as if she wanted to find out more about her own results and the educator assured us all they were there to give us confidence to question gp/practice nurses who did not explain issues properly.
To say some of the others have been T2 for many years I felt more informed than all of them, thanks mostly to all my forumites HERE!!! Thank you.
Will update from week to week but would throughly recommend this course to all, not just diabetics!
)
