How do I become a Diabetes Nurse Educator?

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I am currently an ER nurse, but someday i would like to become involved as a diabetes nurse educator, how do i go about doing this? i currently have 2 years experience and my BSN.... help!!

could you send me a private message

thanks a bunch!

my mother is a diabetic on the pump......diabetes has always been a thing for me..

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.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
lots_of_luv said:
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.

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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!

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Specializes in medical/telemetry/IR.

Unfortunately personal experience doesn't count:(

Good Luck

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Specializes in Diabetes ED, (CDE), CCU, Pulmonary/HIV.

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.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

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.

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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.

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i want to be a nurse specializing on this one. i like both diabetes and endocrine as a specialty.

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Specializes in PNP, CDE, Integrative Pain Management.

I have taken the quote below directly from NBCDE.org, the certifying body for certified diabetes educators. When I sat for this exam, the two years I had spent as a bedside nurse on a floor that specialized in diabetes DID NOT COUNT as diabetes education, because my job description was not primarily described as "diabetes self-management education" (even though I did that every day!), I was an inpatient staff nurse on a floor with endocrine and also other med/surg diagnoses.

Hope this helps!

I was qualified to sit for the exam only after I had completed 1000 hours in the role of a diabetes educator specifically. I did that by transferring to the diabetes center at the same hospital. Further, I had to be in that role for 2 years exactly before I could apply for the exam (see below). The exam is offered 2 times per year. At the time I took the exam, the cutoff for the application date was ONE WEEK before my 2 year anniversary in the job, and I had to wait another 6 months to apply for the next exam!

The diabetes center where I work hires nurses who desire to be CDEs. They are trained by us and work in the role, exactly as a CDE, but don't qualify to sit for the exam until their 1000 hours/2 years criteria are met.

"Professional Practice Experience

All professional practice experience is defined as employment for compensation as a diabetes educator in the United States or its territories within the past five years. Employment for compensation means to hold a job in which one is actively engaged in diabetes self-management education and for which paid income is comparable to other diabetes educators in the same area or region of the country. Only experience occurring AFTER completing the Discipline requirement can be counted toward the Professional Practice Experience requirement.

After meeting the Discipline requirement and before applying for the Examination, all (A through C) of the following requirements must be met:

A minimum of two years (to the day) of professional practice experience in diabetes self-management education.

AND

A minimum of 1,000 hours of diabetes self-management education experience.

AND

Current employment in a defined diabetes educator role providing diabetes self-management education a minimum of four hours per week, or its equivalent, at the time of application."

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AimersTriageRN said:
Hi there,

Does anyone have any good study guides that they used to prepare for their CDE exam? Or any tips at all?? I am getting ready to take it in October and would really love to hear about anyone's experiences.

Thanks!

Aimee

I came across a site today that offered a study booklet. I was googling to find any info pos. on CDE. That was not what I wanted at this point so do not recall the site. I am just trying to fingure out the path to take to become a CDE. Can I ask how you went about getting your 2 yrs experience in?:typing

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Your two years and 1000 hours have to be earned in a paid position with the title of diabetes educator. Hours worked on the floor educating patients, don't count unfortunately. Through the grace of God I met someone who was the director of a diabetes center and she hired me as an educator. I would say look for diabetes centers in your area, or go to ADA and find recognized programs in your area (not that the program that you earn hours in has to be recognized, but that site is a good place to find lots of programs) and look at AADE's page with job listings. You can sometimes find agencies that are looking for educators with the stipulation that you will sit for the exam in two years.

I took the exam on Saturday. They let you know if you passed or not within six weeks.

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AimersTriageRN said:
Hi there,

Does anyone have any good study guides that they used to prepare for their CDE exam? Or any tips at all?? I am getting ready to take it in October and would really love to hear about anyone's experiences.

Thanks!

Aimee

Check out the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Truly, if you have any interest at all in diabetes education, this is the place to start. To study for the CDE exam I used the CORE CURRICULUM published by AADE. You can order it from their website. The AADE also has live courses that you can take- and the schedule and locations are listsed on their website. The "CORE" comes in a 4-volume set, and I started with the areas I was weakest in. Each chapter has sample questions from the exam to help you test what you've learned.

In response to those wanting to become a diabetes nurse educator- I truly encourage you, it is a wonderful specialty,but be forewarned that there are not alot of positions available, in general. Hospital programs are shutting down left and right due to budget cuts- the reimbursement for Diabetes education is just so poor, that it's a big money-loser for hospitals. In many, if not most places, the educators are constantly on the battle-ground to keep their programs open. There are DM educators working out of larger physician offices, but again, the owners have to be willing to put up the $ to offer the service, for which they recover relatively little in reimbursement. The need is great, but our health care system is not geared toward a chronic care model. We pay to patch up the complications, but not for the education needed to prevent them. Sad, but true.

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