Editors Column
Introduction
It is hard to believe we are almost at the end of what has been another very difficult year. I hope everyone is staying safe and well and that the lifting of restrictions around Australia will enable you to relax and enjoy time with family and friends over the Christmas and New Year period.
In this issue of the ADE we have articles covering a variety of topics relevant to our work as diabetes educators.
Associate Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams, Principal Research Fellow, at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, discusses fascinating research on the role of the gut microbiota in type 1 diabetes and how this may pave the way for new treatments for related prevention and management.
I am sure all diabetes educators recognise the importance of good communication when working with people with diabetes. To help us with this, clinical psychologist, Sarah Lam, discusses why communication is important, along with plenty of practical tips for building relationships, collaborative decision making and facilitating good information exchange.
Simone Patterson, RN CDE and Manager of the Diabetes Education Service at Austin Health, provides a detailed review of hypoglycaemia and why it matters, covering the pathophysiology, short-term and long-term impacts, impaired awareness, treatment and prevention. A must-read for all CDEs.
If you have been asked questions about bariatric surgery by your clients, the article by Dr Rachel Hovelroud and A/Professor Vasant Shenoy from Townsville University Hospital will be helpful. They provide an overview of bariatric surgery for the management of type 2 diabetes, discussing the benefits of surgery, different types of surgery available, post-operative complications and considerations, and research on short-term and long-term outcomes.
Margaret Whillier and colleagues, recipient of the Roche best oral presentation award at this year’s Australasian Diabetes Congress, discuss the outcomes of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital evaluation of the ozDAFNE course. Their findings will be helpful for anyone who is currently or considering offering structured group education for people with type 1 diabetes.
Finally, Dr Jason Yates, Paediatric Endocrinologist and Project Lead for the ‘Diabetes, Know the signs, Ask’ campaign, discusses a recent project funded by Clinical Excellence Queensland which involved development of an intervention strategy aimed at reducing the rate of DKA at first presentation of T1D in children. While evaluation of the program outcomes is still underway, Dr Yates explains the reasoning behind the project and how they went about increasing awareness of the symptoms of T1D in children in order to facilitate earlier diagnosis and reduce the risk of DKA at diagnosis.
As we plan future editions of the ADE, we would like to encourage more of our members to consider submitting an article for publication. Remember, it doesn’t need to be original research. Do you have an interesting case study? A quality improvement project you’ve conducted in your workplace? Have you conducted a literature review on a particular clinical area for your own continuing professional development that you would share with others? Do you have a practice tool you’ve developed or used that others could use? All of these may be suitable for publication. If you have an idea you would like to discuss further, please get in touch. You can email me at editor@adea.com.au
A reminder that you can read the ADE via https://ade.adea.com.au on any digital device and can also print, share and comment on articles and browse or search for past articles. If you prefer to read offline, you can print any articles, either in hard copy or as a PDF which you can save and read later. You can find instructions on how to do this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df9-L_7QvqE
Once again, I’d like to thank our hard-working EAG, and our authors, for helping to bring this edition together. We hope you enjoy reading it and welcome your feedback. Have a wonderful Christmas and hopefully a happy, healthy and lockdown-free new year!