[country mom]

I passed my CDE last year. I studied the "Core Curriculum for Diabetes Educators" from AADE. It has review questions at the end of each chapter that were especially helpful. I started with the chapters dealing with subjects I am least familiar with (like kids and gestational). Good luck.

Can I just add that I found it interesting there are ED nurses interested in becoming educators. Around here, I often feel like the nurses in ED and the floor don't consider us "real nurses" and think we just sit around in luxury and don't have to work. I even had a supervisor once tell me that I didn't deserve the same pay as the floor nurses because I "don't use my nursing skills in this job". Couldn't be more wrong! For those of you wanting to go into this practice, know ahead of time that you may face some discrimination from colleagues who do not understand or respect your practice.

[RN1206]

I, too, want to become a diabetes educator. I have visited the Diabetes educator site, it says nothing about training, only how many hours you need in order to become eligible to take the exam. How can I get the experience educating diabetic patients without having specialty training? I have looked online for educator courses, but I don't see any located in my home state of Florida. I am a new RN, I went into nursing to become a diabetic educator. Does anybody have and advice on a career path? I would appreciate any information. Thanks!!

[lots_of_luv]

I forget what site it was but a diabetes nurse practitioner makes over 100thousand dollars. I'm working on my bsn and want to do my masteral right after to broaden my horizon. Will I need to practice nursing first professionaly before I can do my masteral? Thanks.

[VickyRN]

Originally Posted by lots_of_luv

I forget what site it was but a diabetes nurse practitioner makes over 100thousand dollars. I'm working on my bsn and want to do my masteral right after to broaden my horizon. Will I need to practice nursing first professionaly before I can do my masteral? Thanks.

Yes, you do need to practice at the bedside and with diabetic patients first. Otherwise you will not be able to obtain a certification for Diabetic Educator and you will not be marketable. Advanced practice nursing means just that - ADVANCED practice. You definitely need experience at the bedside first before you pursue your MSN. Best wishes to you.

[C6H12O6]

Hello everyone! I am going to be applying to nursing school soon and I plan to continue my education beyond my BSN. I would love to be a NP and/or CDE. I have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 14 (I am 24 now). Does 10 years of managing my own diabetes fulfill the experience requirement to be a CDE? Thanks!

[frann]

Unfortunately personal experience doesn't count

Good Luck

[Myxel67]

Pt education is a big part of a nurse's job. I worked for 3 yrs in a pulmonary unit. At least a third of these pts had diabetes and were frequent fliers as well. I took every possible opportunity to educate them about DM mgmt. A few years later I took a part time job as a nurse educator at a hospital diabetes care center. When I applied to take exam for CDE a year later, I was able to document part of my time in the pulmonary unit as teaching experience. You must document 1,000 hours of direct pt. teaching in the 5 yrs before the application date for the exam.

[jlsRN]

Hi, I was directed to this thread. I'm thinking of adding a 0.2 FTE to my FTE as a diabetic educator nurse. I think I'd like to work with patients in this way, and have more time to teach them about their disease management than we do on the unit.

[vylica8]

I had a similar problem in my community. We were in desperate need of a diabetic educator, yet to become certified I need 1000 teaching hours. I solved the problem by convincing my hospital to let me teach free classes and free one on one sessions. It gives them a way to advertise to the community and in the process cut down on useless ER visits, and it give me practice and hours. I am just getting started, but the hours quickly add up. I just do it two days a week and continue my regular staff nurse position part time as well.