Impacting the fight against Diabetes

[laughoutloud8]

hello all,

i want to help people self-manage their diabetes mellitus through hands on care and help create a healthy lifestyle. i want to be involved with planning, organizing, and coordinating activities with a focus on prevention of the disease within communities. i plan to reach communities through education and awareness by designing, developing and assisting in producing culturally relevant preventive health promotion materials like posters, pamphlets, radio and television public service announcements and guest speaking at schools etc.

so yeah basically i came to the conclusion that nursing seems to be the most logical thing after considering nutrition and public health.

i think i came to the correct conclusion that getting a bsn then a higher degree like a fnp would be the best route as appose to the cnl/msn route. i picked nursing because it seemed like best way to get the cde license. what i mean by best is, nursing would place me closer to dm patients giving me the experience and hours i need to obtain a cde. please provide any and all insight if you think i am on the right track or not.

i myself am not diabetic but i have a family history on both sides so my brother or i could very well get later on in life. my paternal granddad and my mother both had diabetes. my mom mismanaged her diabetes and before i could get back to her she passed away of a diabetic coma. i just got my health checked and i am safe for now but i have to change my lifestyle eating well and more exercise to at least prolong or prevent it from occurring. the passing of my mother has made me realize how i would like to help people the rest of my life wether it is diabetes etc.

i know that it is going to take time and hard work when one of my goals becomes a reality. later on i plan to branch to other diseases.

i posted a very similar thread in the general board to get a broader input.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Of course I am only SLIGHTLY prejudiced, but I think nursing is an excellent career as it offers so much variety. Licensed dieticians are also CDE's. I manage an Education dept and pay a dietician CDE $45/hr to work prn (when we have diabetic classes). Not bad IMHO. One barrier is that most hospitals need only 1-2 CDE's and some have none. Look for a diabetic council of some sort in your state. Maybe they need people with Education degrees, or nursing degrees. Of course, you can get a nursing license, then an education degree and be eligible to do multiple jobs.