• Fresh Views

    AADE’s Project Vision: Positive Change is Coming!

    Every positive change in your life begins with a clear, unequivocal decision that you are either going to do something or stop doing something. – Anonymous

    Are you familiar with the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) and their Project Vision? Whether you are a diabetes care and education specialist or someone living with diabetes, AADE’s Project Vision may positively impact you! 

    Who is AADE?

    If you’re not familiar with AADE, it is an interdisciplinary professional membership organization dedicated to improving prediabetes, diabetes and cardiometabolic care through innovative education, management, and support. AADE has a vast network of more than 14,000 practitioners working with people who have, are affected by, or are at risk for diabetes. AADE is a key influencer and resource in the diabetes space.

    AADE’s Project Vision: What you need to know

    AADE has recently launched a multi-year, transformational initiative known as PROJECT VISION. The goal is to position diabetes educators for success within a dynamically changing environment, elevating their role as integrators for clinical management, education, prevention and support.

    6 key strategies of Project Vision

    Project Vision encompasses 6 key strategies with a framework to guide the diabetes care and education specialty to evolve by enhancing the skills and education, and re-directng resources:

    1. Drive Integration. This strategy focuses on integrating the clinical and self-management aspects of care so that care is holistic and seamless.
    2. Include Related Conditions: Strategy 2 acknowledges that diabetes isn’t an isolated health condition. Diabetes educators will demonstrate expertise in the full range of cardiometabolic conditions including diabetes, obesity, hypertension and cardiac disorders.
    3. Focus on Behavioral Health: Foundational focus is on supporting the emotional well-being of the whole person with diabetes.(The AADE Project Vision web page has a great blog post by Dr. Nicole Bereolos about behavioral health that is well worth the read!)
    4. Leverage Technology: Diabetes educators will be technology experts and data interpreters, trainers, and consultants driving care. 
    5. Promote Person-Centered Care: AADE will continue to advocate that every individual with diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions has access to a diabetes educator.
    6. Achieve Quadruple Aim: The quadruple aim in healthcare focuses on better outcomes, improved patient experience, lower costs, and improved clinician experience. 

    Positive change is coming!

    What this means is that positive change is coming! This excites us here at A Fresh POV for You! Our work aligns with several of these strategies:

    • Promote Person-Centered Care. Read about how we use co-design here.
    • Leverage Technology. Read about our review of sessions at #AADE19 here
    • Focus on Behavioral Health. Our guess is that you already realize this is a big focus for us. Our #AADE19 presentation was in the behavioral health track titled The Miracle Question Applied to Diabetes. Of note, our session was standing room only, which we think indicates an interest, need, and willingness of diabetes clinicians to learn more behavioral techniques and approaches to add to their tool box.

    Diabetes Care and Education Specialists

    At the AADE business meeting at #AADE19 in Houston last month, AADE President Karen Kemmis unveiled the new name for the specialty, evolving from Diabetes Educator to Diabetes Care and Education Specialist! Through a recent AADE survey, most current educators respond that their work involves much more than education, including clinical management components.  The survey data overwhelmingly demonstrated that diabetes educators felt a name change would not only more accurately reflect the work being done but also would raise the level of respect for the specialty. Ideally, resulting in more referrals, increased access to services and more opportunities for all. 

    Our hope

    Our hope is that as Project Vision continues to reframe and reshape the practice and the specialty, that more diabetes care and education specialists will embrace a solution-focused approach to care, and incorporate the techniques such as those we share via our blog and through presentations and papers (be on the lookout for an article in AADE in Practice journal next spring!).

    If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, we invite you to subscribe to our blog, and we will send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients. 

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