Hospital & Hyperglycemia Webinar Update!
Level 2 – Hospital and Hyperglycemia – 1.5 CEs – updated & recorded ready for viewing!
Research clearly demonstrates the importance of glucose control during hospitalization to improve outcomes not only in the inpatient setting but after discharge. This course reviews the evidence that supports inpatient glucose control and outline practical strategies to achieve targets in the inpatient setting. We incorporate the latest ADA Standards and provide links to resources and inpatient management templates. 90-minute course.
Topics include:
- The impact of hyperglycemia in the hospital setting
- The importance of inpatient glucose control
- Three strategies to get glucose to goal in the hospital setting
Resources highlighted include:
Diabetes Care in the Hospital:Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2018 American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care 2018 Jan; 41 (Supplement 1): S144-S151.
Inpatient hyperglycemia management: A practical review of primary medical and surgical teams – Umpierrez
Management of Inpatient Hyperglycemia and Diabetes in Older Adults – Umpierrez
Find additional helpful articles:
Hospitals and Hyperglycemia Resource Page
Kim Higgins Excellence Award Acceptance Speech by Beverly
It is such an honor to receive the Kim Higgins Excellence award from the CA ADCES Board and Coordinating Body.
I want to thank those who nominated me and the selection committee for their thoughtfulness and hard work. I also want to recognize the other nominees and acknowledge their contributions to diabetes excellence.
I love being a part of this community of diabetes advocates, specialists, educators and coaches. When I attend the CA ADCES Meetings, it feels like a big family reunion, but without all the emotional baggage! Putting on a conference virtual or live is such a huge undertaking and I want to recognize those who generously volunteer many hours to pull off such an awesome event with such relevant and timely topics.
I’m especially honored to receive the Kim Higgins award because of the excellence and passion she brought to the field of diabetes. Kim and I cross paths many times throughout the past 30 years. Both of us were diabetes nurse specialists at Stanford Hospital. we both taught for the groundbreaking program, Becoming an Educator, spearheaded by Mary Sullivan. We both volunteered for the Diabetes Coalition of California and we worked together to promote legislation to enhance sharp disposals for injectable medications. It was after a press conference on sharps legislation where Kim touched my heart the most.
After the conference, we were grabbing lunch and I was sharing with her how I felt I could’ve done better or said something different at the press conference Kim looked me right in the eye, grabbed my hands, and said to me with 100% confidence, “You did great.”
I’ve never forgotten that moment. It was the first time in my career where I truly understood what a mentor could do. A mentor reassures you when you feel that you’re not doing enough or doing it right. And mentor focuses on your strengths while challenging you move forward.
As a recipient of this award, my plan is to carry on Kim‘s legacy of mentoring and helping people achieve their best. Let’s reach out to our colleagues who may be struggling and offer to help with problem solving or just listen and provide encouragement.
Kim was also an energetic explorer. She was so interested in how things worked, how different people saw a situation and focused on making things better. This is a quality I would encourage all of us to embrace. To connect with each other, hear different stories, expand our vision and promote innovations.
Receiving this award has reassured me that I’m on the right path. And I couldn’t have achieved half of what I have achieved on my own.
I need to thank some important people along the way who have lifted me up when I have Felt discouraged or defeated encouraged me to keep moving forward.
Over a span of 20 some years, our incredible team at Feather River Hospital was able to build an ADA Recognized diabetes program, a thriving support group, a Diabetes Prevention Program and host an annual walk to raise funds for our Diabetes scholarship program. We lost our hospital in the Camp Fire, but I still carry the comradery, spirit and love of all the patients and my colleagues in my heart.
I want to thank my special friends Jane and Jony for helping me conceive my company and being on my Board of Directors since the get-go. And Bryanna, my work colleague who has taught me so much about communication and inclusion.
Of course, my wonderful husband who I met at Stanford hospital and married 23 years ago, who has been the backbone and cheerleader for my company and life. When my kids were small he would bring them to conferences so I could breast-feed during the breaks. During all the ups and down he has reassured me, that “You got this.” My two boys Robert and Jackson have been an integral part of my company from creating DiaBingo packets to fulfilling orders.
Lastly, I really want to thank all of you. Providing diabetes care isn’t easy. It’s messy, and there’s bureaucracy and insurance companies and other barriers. But at the end of the day. I want all of you to know what a big difference you are making in people’s lives. Just by hearing their stories, witnessing their pain and successes, and advocating on their behalf, each one of you is making such a huge difference in each person life.
I stand on the shoulders of those trailblazers and change agents who have come before me, including my professional colleagues and my ancestors who crossed continents and made big sacrifices to provide me with so many opportunities.
I am forever grateful, and I humbly accept this very meaningful award.Beverly Thomassian, RN, MPH, CDCES, BC-ADM
Engaging Women in the Fight Against Diabetes
Economics and Diabetes; we know that other factors impact the risk of diabetes and GDM in women. Some of these factors include socioeconomic status and the environment. One in three women in the United States, especially single moms, are living in poverty or are right at the brink of it.
Women of minority racial and ethnic groups are two to four times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have type 2 diabetes. Reproductive-aged women with type 2 diabetes have fewer years of education, have lower income, and are less likely to be employed than women without diabetes.
Can we help stop diabetes before the risk is passed on to future generations?
As women consider the responsibility of bringing a new life into being, they often have a heightened sense of determination to take better care of themselves for the health of their baby. Let’s tap into that motivation and find opportunities early on to promote healthy lifestyle before conception and throughout their lifetime.
Women have the potential to improve the Health Legacy passed on to future generations by being in their best health before, during and after pregnancy.
Health Care Professionals need to send a clear and encouraging message to girls and women that their health matters and that they are important coupled with resources and referrals to help women improve their health status.
Key Messages during different phases of life.
Message to girls and adolescents: Start building healthy habits today.
- Be active everyday. Limit screen time to 2 hours a day, engage in moderate intensity exercise daily.
- Eat healthy. Limit sweet drinks like soda and fruit juices and limit processed foods. See Joy of Six Sugar Pledge Resource Page
- Talk to girls about expected body changes over time. Encourage eating nutritionally balanced meals and snacks. Refer to dietitians and community programs.
Message to Women of Childbearing Age – Get active and eat a healthy diet to nourish your body
- Women’s health and nutritional status BEFORE conception is very critical.
- Regular exercise before conceiving is also important –“Greater total physical activity before or during early pregnancy is significantly associated with lower risk of GDM.”And the magnitude of effect was greatest during prepregnancy = 55% risk reduction in those with highest activity rates.” (ie brisk walk >2 miles).
Message to Women During Pregnancy – Keep active and eat mindfully.
Less than 30% of women gain the recommended weight during pregnancy. Gaining excessive weight increases risk of GDM by 50% along with having a large baby. Encourage eating a healthy, and balanced approach to meal planning.
- Try not to exceed recommended weight gain, keep active, and keep connected to health care team for recommended tests and checkups.
- Refer to community programs and registered dietitians to help women meet lifestyle goals.
Message to Women After pregnancy – There is so much you can do to improve the Health Legacy of you and your child.
- Keep active, eat healthfully, get glucose tested 6-12 weeks after delivery.
Breastfeeding has amazing benefits:
- For children: breastfeeding decreases the risk type 1 and type 2 diabetes and Obesity.
- For mother: breastfeeding decreases the woman’s of future diabetes by 50%. Plus breastfeeding decreases blood pressure, risk of breast cancer and helps with returning to prepregnancy weight.
Health Legacy and Message of Hope: Celebrating and empowering women through improving access to care, education and targeted health messaging promises to improve the health of this generation and generations to come.
For more info, listen to our OnDemand Women and Diabetes Webinar. Learn and Earn CEs from your computer.
Learn more with our May Diabetes Ed Newsletter!
Alcohol intake is dramatically increasing amongst women.
This increase may be associated with targeted marketing geared toward normalizing alcohol consumption for women and other social pressures. Unfortunately, women are more likely to suffer negative health consequences from alcohol since they make less of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which means alcohol levels can quickly reach toxic levels.
Alcohol is especially tricky for women with diabetes who take insulin or sulfonylureas, since the combination increases the risk of hypoglycemia. Yet, many people think alcohol will elevate blood sugars since it “tastes sweet”. In addition, alcohol contributes to unwanted weight gain.
Key Message – Let’s ask women about their alcohol consumption and discuss limiting alcohol intake to no more than 1 drink a day (which is the recommended amount for all women, regardless if they have diabetes or not).
To learn more check out our May Diabetes Ed Newsletter!
Heart Disease and Women
According to an 2013 article in Diabetologia, despite remarkable improvements in life expectancy and a decline in cardiovascular mortality during the last few decades, cardiovascular disease 
Women with diabetes have double the risk of death from heart disease than men with diabetes.
Women’s health has traditionally focused on sexual and reproductive health. Unfortunately, there is lack of awareness of CVD in women, among both clinicians and women themselves.
Yet we know that as many as six in every ten deaths from CVD are related to modifiable risk factors, even among women. See the nine risk factors that predict CV Disease in Women in the “Interheart Study.”
Key Message – As diabetes educators, we can raise awareness and advocate to treat risk factors and encourage women to take an active role in preventing heart disease through daily lifestyle changes.
Learn more via the May Diabetes Ed Newsletter!
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