Teaching the Person with Diabetes: Experience with a Follow-up Session

Abstract

We studied 371 diabetic patients who attended an outpatient follow-up session after completing an in-patient diabetes education program. Identified gaps in information on diabetes care included problems with understanding the prescribed diet (155 patients), incorrect urine testing (30 patients), and unacceptable technics of insulin administration (26 patients). We also reviewed 178 consecutive patients who had been invited to this follow-up session to ascertain how often readmission to the hospital occurred. 88 of these patients attended a follow-up session while 90 patients did not attend. Over the ensuing 5 yr, the latter group had a significantly higher readmission rate (P < 0.01), yet readmissions for education-related reasons (ketoacidosis, foot infections, and hypoglycemia) were not significantly different. Even when diabetic patients have recently attended education sessions on living with diabetes, attendance at regular follow-up sessions is encouraged to reinforce learning and to identify persisting gaps in information.