Becoming a Certified Diabetic Educator

PRESS · Jan 18, 2005

Hey all,
I'm having a difficult time finding this information. I'm a RN 1.5 years out of school with med/surg and tele/stepdown experience. I've always enjoyed the pathophysiology of diabetes and dealing with treatments etc. I would love to get into diabetic education but am not sure on the route.
I know that to be certified, you have to have 1,000 hours of diabetes self-management teaching experience and take the exam. My question is: How in the world do you get those 1,000 hours? I mean it sounds like they expect you to get a job doing diabetic education, and then officially certify later.
Are these jobs to gain experience in abundance? How do you get into it? It seems like a catch-22 (experience needed to get job, certification needed to get job, but certification unavailable unless you have the job). Thanks.

IT VERY IRONIC TO BE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM IN "BECOMING A CERTIFIED DIABETIC EDUCATOR". I HAVE HAD NO LUCK SO FAR. IF YOU KNOW OR FIND OUT WHAT TO DO, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

BE BLESSED,

PRESS

PRESS · Jan 18, 2005

I am a RN with fifteen years experience in a variety of specialty areas. I have been trying for two weeks to get information. I totally agree with your assessment of the one thousand required hours. If you or anyone else in this forum know of a solutionplease let me know!

Be Blessed,

PRESS

Nursetob2005 · Jan 18, 2005

I spoke with my Aunt who works at the American Diabetes Association. She stated that if you contact them, they may be able to lead you in the right direction of finding a place to help get your hours. They might be able to hook you up with a Dr. or an organization to help get your hours.

Their website is:

www.diabetes.org

Good Luck!

Jami

PRESS · Jan 19, 2005

Thank you! I will contact the ADA tomorrow.

zacarias, ASN, RN · Mar 7, 2005

Press,

Any luck with the ADA? I looked at two different sites, one the board that actually certifies and the other, a professional organization for CDEs. I have come up empty. They ALL talk about getting 1000 hours of diabetic teaching but give no help and where to get that experience! :sad:

Q. · Mar 8, 2005

I'm currently working with a CDE for my practicum in patient education and I told her of this dilemma. She acknowledged it and said that basically, you have to get "lucky" and get hired into a diabetic educator role without the certification, obtain your necessary hours and then sit for the certification. She didn't say it was common to get hired without certification, unless you have some experience with teaching and/or diabetes in depth. And come to think of it, some RNs and most RDs get jobs as diabetic educators and then sit for the certification later.

Audreyfay · Mar 9, 2005

Here's the site for the organization that does the certification. You will find information regarding who qualifies to sit for the exam:

http://www.ncbde.org

zacarias, ASN, RN · Mar 9, 2005

I'm currently working with a CDE for my practicum in patient education and I told her of this dilemma. She acknowledged it and said that basically, you have to get "lucky" and get hired into a diabetic educator role without the certification,

Q and Audrey,

Thanks for the responses. It makes sense that I guess the only way is to be "lucky" and get hired to educate diabetics. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to pull off. What I need to do is talk with every CDE I see, look at newspaper job ads, basically "network." Thanks again.

smartblnde · Mar 13, 2006

Good morning,

I, too, am wanting to be a CDE. I have 38 years of experience with diabetes... Have been one myself for that long. That, however, does not count as experience, and that is weird, because I do a LOT of teaching to all kinds of people about all aspects of the disease. Go figure.

Joan

Q and Audrey,
Thanks for the responses. It makes sense that I guess the only way is to be "lucky" and get hired to educate diabetics. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to pull off. What I need to do is talk with every CDE I see, look at newspaper job ads, basically "network." Thanks again.

katenexile · Mar 1, 2007

IT VERY IRONIC TO BE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM IN "BECOMING A CERTIFIED DIABETIC EDUCATOR". I HAVE HAD NO LUCK SO FAR. IF YOU KNOW OR FIND OUT WHAT TO DO, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
BE BLESSED,
PRESS

I have 26 years of experience, BSN, ACLS and the majority of my career

has been in critical care---and I have been batting zero thus in quest on

how to get the job---so you can get the time in required to sit for certification. I think you have to work under someone who is certified--

so the only thing I can think to do is apply via resume to hosp. specifying

what I want to do. Anyone with a better plan, please share.

Kate Thorn

Myxel67 · Mar 1, 2007

I've been a diabetes educator since July, 2003. I think there is a certain amount of luck involved in becoming a CDE. I've had a long time interest in DM that began when my brother married a young woman with type 1 DM back in 1960. (I was 11 at the time). When I developed Gestational DM toward the end of my first pregnancy in 1990, I was especially impressed by the help I received from the diabetes educator who taught me at that time.

When I became a registered nurse in 1994, I worked at a hospital that had a small diabetes education center. This particular center hired nurses from the nephrology and diabetes treatment floor to which it was connected. At this hospital, I began on a cardiac telemetry unit, then on to Pulmonary/HIV, and Critical Care.

On the Pulmonary/HIV floor, we had many frequent fliers. The same people would come and go and have fairly long stays. About half of them had type 2 diabetes. This is the time I began to work more with my patients to help with their DM care. The CDE (dietitian from the diabetes center) would see the pt for 1 visit, and then I would reinforce her teaching, and would add to it to help pt understand treatment regimen better. Fast forward through my 3 years in critical care.

I began working one night a week as a float nurse at the hospital where I had received my own diabetes education 12.5 years earlier. During the orientation at this hospital, one of the instructors in the orientation noticed me.(She said she liked by style) When a parttime job for diabetes educator became available 3 months later, she told me about it and also told the nurse mgr about me. After my interview, I began working there 2 days a week. The fulltime CDE left after I had been working there about 2 and a half months.

This allowed me to work full time for a while and maximize my hours in direct pt teaching. In less than a year, I applied to take the exam to become a CDE. For the qualifying 1,000 hours, I used my time in this new job plus the time I had spent teaching those respiratory pts 4 years earlier (the experience requirement for exam is 1,000 hrs in direct pt teaching in past 5 years). I had to go back to the other hospital to get my former nurse manager to help document that teaching experience. I sat for the exam, and have been a CDE for almost 3 years. My dept. hired another RN about 8 mos after I was hired. Her background was peds and NICU and she had a son with type 1 DM. After about a year in the dept, she applied for and sat for the exam and is now a CDE as well.

So, yes, diabetes care departments will hire nurses or dietitians who are not yet CDEs. This allows those new to DM education to get the required experience to sit for the exam.

I apologize for the autobiographical post. Did you notice that all but one of the posts before yours were from 2005?