Diabetes Management Plan – EdHealth Australia

Introduction

EdHealth Australia produces a range of Diabetes 4 Disability services for NDIS participants to use. We mainly work with people with intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, cognitive disability and psycho-social disability. At times we work with NDIS Participants who don’t have diabetes but they do have similar needs.

People with diabetes and a disability depend on their circle of support to help with their diabetes management. D4D training provides support workers with the information needed to understand diabetes and the treatment their client requires for their diabetes. The relevant diabetes equipment skills are taught so support workers can help their client with their glucose monitoring and diabetes medication management.

Each person’s diabetes is unique in the way it affects them and so too is the impact of a person’s disability. A Diabetes Management Plan provides the individualised guidance support workers need to use to help that person to live with their diabetes in as healthy a way as possible. In this way we remove the barriers that prevent people with a disability from managing their diabetes for better health outcomes.

The DMP Assessment

One of EdHealth’s Credentialled Diabetes Educators/diabetes educators will visit the NDIS Participant and member of their circle of support, at home, or connect with them via online appointment.

Reports and other information about the client are requested and read. We also contact health professionals in the person’s Diabetes Team, as required, for a deeper understanding about their diabetes care. Support strategies can be created to address identified needs. The DMP outlines each person’s diabetes and disability needs, their level of literacy, strengths and how their capacity can be built for greater involvement in their diabetes care.

D4D Diabetes Management Plan

A D4D Diabetes Management Plan provides support workers with customised information about a NDIS participant’s diabetes support needs. It includes practical information on what to do across a range of daily circumstances to improve the quality and safety of the support. The NDIS participant’s capacity to be involved in their own diabetes care is integrated into the DMP with strategies to address the barriers their disability creates with their self-care. A draft DMP is compiled by the nurse, after they have completed their assessment.

We aim to take the guess work out of supporting a client with diabetes. Each plan is forwarded to a group of people identified as reviewers of the draft. This may include, a parent, sibling, diabetes educator, community nurse and support worker or their manager. This is an important step to gather the intimate knowledge of others around the NDIS Participant’s diabetes and disability needs and preferred diabetes support strategies. We also ask for reviewers to confirm our interpretation of information gathered during the assessment phase was correct.

Once we receive and integrate the feedback into the colourful templates, the DMP is printed and presented in a blue folder, separated into five sections.

The five sections are:

My Diabetes
Healthy lifestyle (healthy diet, exercise and stress management)
Diabetes Medication
Glucose monitoring
Diabetes team+ Health support

The support workers benefit from the bringing together of practical advice to support their clients with the day-to-day decisions and actions required in the care of diabetes. Picture resources can be integrated into the DMP, if funding is available, to support the NDIS participant to be actively involved with their diabetes care, to the best of their ability.

DMP Updates

We check in with clients to see if their DMP requires a review every 6 months. This strategy provides an opportunity to maintain the accuracy of the DMP as an accurate record of the person’s diabetes care. Small revisions can be provided and we recommend a full review of the DMP each year.

Contact Us

We can give you some more information about the D4D Diabetes Management Plans or arrange a quote for the delivery of a D4D solution for your client’s diabetes support.

Email: admin1@edhealth.com.au Phone: 0412 102 048