Developing a new diabetes education model.

Two diabetes nurses and a dietitian at Hurt Valley District Health Board (DHB) diabetes education and management service have been awarded this year's Eli Lilly diabetes nursing research grant, worth $10,000. The diabetes team will use the grant for a project called A New Model of Service Delivery for Children and Families living with Diabetes. This model uses new education techniques to help reduce hospital admissions and complications resulting from poor diabetes management.

The diabetes service piloted the education model last year. It was so successful, that the nurses decided to write it up as a research project. Diabetes nurse specialist and team leader Louise Farmer said: "Our model challenges conventional models and could create a new direction for child diabetes education, as it has the potential to save the health system time and money. By improving management and knowledge of the chronic condition, we anticipate young people with diabetes and their families will experience an increased quality of life."

Currently children with diabetes and their families are offered a half-hour appointment with the specialist services every three months. This doesn't allow families and children to mix and get to know each other. The new model will enable children to attend a three-monthly clinic with a cohort of similar aged children. This will be a fun session, combining some age appropriate diabetes teaching. A simultaneous parallel session for parents will enable them to have a coffee together, swap stories and share feelings about parenting a child with diabetes. The parents and children will attend their regular appointment with the paediatrician either before or after the group session. "We received wonderful feedback from the children and their parents during the pilot programme," said Farmer. "Children really appreciated the opportunities of being together and getting to know their peers. They got involved in the group, learning quickly and enjoying themselves at the same time, making friends with people who understood their daily challenges. Having diabetes is a huge burden for these children and being together in this way helps them normalise their condition. We hope the support gained within the clinics will develop into local support networks outside clinic times."

Farmer and paediatric diabetes nurse Tracy Paddock are grateful to Eli Lilly for its support of nursing research. Eventually, Farmer hopes all their diabetes clinics will be tranferred to the new style, although parents will still have the option of individual clinics. As the project is built, Farmer and Paddock plan to enlist the help of the hospital play therapist, the hospital school teacher and a paediatric psychologist. The 2005 research grant applications were assessed by Hawke's Bay Diabetes Centre nurse specialist Terrie Spedding and Otago Polytechnic school of nursing lecturer Maree Steel, who won the diabetes nurse grant in 2004. Steel will be using her grant to conduct a retrospective analysis of diabetes in pregnancy in the Otago region over the Last seven years. Eli Lilly NZ is committed to providing the $10,000 grant annually for at least the next four years.