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You have passed the CDCES Exam (yay) and 5 years have flown by, now you are up for renewal. How do you maintain your certification?
The rules around renewing can be a little confusing, so here are excerpts from the CBDCE Website and Newsletter that we hope you find helpful! Of course, for any additional questions or special situations, we recommend you visit the CBDCE Website or check out the links toward the end of the article.
For Path 1 and 2 you need to:
Path 3, this option is for those not able to meet the 1000 hour practice experience requirement, but applicants must:
The cost to renew your CDCES Certification is well worth the $250 dollars ($50 per year). This certification is widely recognized and respected by people with diabetes, health care professionals, and employers alike.
Time Frame: Certification is valid for a five-year time frame with an expiration date that ends on December 31st of the last year of the certification cycle.
As many of you know, I choose to take the exam every 5 years to renew my CDCES. But, most people choose to renew through CEs. See the information below.
When renewing by Renewal Pathway 1 and 3, you will need to earn a minimum of 75 CE hours during your accrual cycle. You can do this by only accruing 75 CE hours under the “Formal Activities” or you can mix and match with “Formal” and “Expanded Activities.”
Formal activities include:
Expanded activities include:
If you are using “Expanded Activities,” there are limits on each “Expanded Activity,” and the maximum hours you can claim during your accrual cycle is 30 CE hours from the “Expanded Activities” Category.
Feel free to mix and match from both the “Formal” and “Expanded” categories as long as at least 45 hours of CE activities fall under the “Formal” category.
The Activities in the “Formal” Category must meet identified requirements. All of the 75 CE hours can be accrued under the “Formal” category.
Continuing Education Hour Defined: – All continuing education activities must be reported in clock hours. One clock hour equals 60 minutes.
For the “Formal” category of continuing education, activities must be:
For more details on the qualifying activities, review Guidelines for Reporting Continuing Education Activities and the Renewal Handbook.
Achieving my CDCES is one of the best and most meaningful investments in professional career! ~ Coach Beverly
It’s not too late to reserve your spot for our
Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Conference | April 15-17, 2021
Whether you are new to diabetes or a seasoned expert, you’ll benefit from this virtual conference with the latest research plus critical content that you can immediately apply to your clinical practice. If you are interested in taking the CDCES or BC-ADM exam or are seeking a state-of-the-art review of current diabetes care, this course is for you.
Entire Program Fee: $399
Dates: April 15-17, 2021
3 Expert Speakers
CEs: 30+ CE hours
Live Webinar Schedule: All webinars start and end times are in Pacific Standard Time
Come join our Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Program.
Team of expert faculty includes:
In addition to informative lectures, we also use group activities and case studies to highlight the essential knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to succeed in diabetes education today!
Prepare for CDCES or BC-ADM certification or earn hours for renewal.
Your registrations include access to all the Online Sessions plus Bonus Courses through December 31st, 2021.
This virtual program includes:
3 day live webinar courses from April 15th-17th (20 CEs) + enrollment in our Bonus Bundle (14.0+ CEs) from now through December 2021.
View full Conference Schedule and Faculty.
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*
*The use of DES products do not guarantee successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.”**To satisfy the requirement for renewal of certification by continuing education for the Certification Board for Diabetes Care & Education (CBDCE), continuing education activities must be applicable to diabetes and approved by a provider on the CBDCE List of Recognized Providers (www.ncbde.org). CBDCE does not approve continuing education.
Diabetes Education Services is accredited/approved by the Commission of Dietetic Registration which is on the list of CBDCE Recognized Providers.”
RS observes Ramadan and fasts from sunrise to sunset. RS is 13 years old, has type 1 diabetes, uses an insulin pump and CGM. RS’s insulin-to-carb ratio is 1:12 and correction is 1:45. Basal settings range from 0.5 -1.2 units an hour.
What would be the best recommendation for RS to keep blood sugars in the target range during Ramadan?
Click here to test your knowledge!
You are invited to join our Virtual Conference on April 26th – 28th with our Nutrition expert speaker, Ashley LaBrier, MS, RD, CDCES, who will be providing a half-day presentation on this important topic!
Ashley LaBrier, MS, RD, CDES, is an innovator in the field of diabetes, nutrition, and technology. Ashley is a consultant and the Diabetes Education Program Coordinator at the Salinas Valley Medical Clinic’s Diabetes & Endocrine Center.
Ms. LaBrier is passionate about providing person-centered education to empower those who live with diabetes. Having been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes herself nearly 20 years ago, she combines her professional knowledge with personal experience and understanding.
Your team is invited to our Virtual DiabetesEd™ Training Conference! Set your team apart and prepare for diabetes certification!
Join this state-of-the-art conference taught by content experts, Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, BC-ADM, CDCES, Beverly Thomassian RN, MPH, CDCES, BC-ADM, and Ashley LaBrier who are passionate about improving diabetes care.
Group discounts are available!*
All hours earned count toward your CDCES Accreditation Information
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparator
Unsure about updates for this mastery level 2021 exam?
Join us to get ready to succeed at the BC-ADM Exam. This course will transform your test anxiety into calm self-confidence and test taking readiness.
This free webinar will review BC-ADM requirements for the current year.
She will also review sample test questions and the reasoning behind choosing the right answers. We hope you can join us.
Instructor: Beverly Thomassian RN, MPH, CDCES, BC-ADM is a working educator who has passed her CDCES Exam 6 times and first earned her BC-ADM credential 20 years ago. She is a nationally recognized diabetes expert for over 25 years.
Beverly has custom designed this course bundle to prepare you for your BC-ADM Exam. Including Level 2 (Standards of Care Intensive), Level 3 (Boot Camp), and Level 4, you can start studying now with 29 On-Demand webinars and practice tests to build your diabetes education foundation and prepare for the BC-ADM Exam.
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.
For Earth Day we encouraged our community to take action to protect our earth. In return, we promised to mail a Medication PocketCard and a plantable Wildflower Postcard to say thanks.
We couldn’t believe the response.
To date, 936 of you chose one or more action to take from our list of ten and hundreds of you added dozens of fantastic additional ideas. See the list below.
Originally, we had planned to stop when we reached 500 promises, but we couldn’t help but expand our vision. We decided to honor each person who is willing to commit to taking action with a PocketCard. We even hired additional staff to help us stuff, stamp, and seal the 900 plus envelopes.
It’s worth it. As a company, we are taking action to decrease our footprint on the earth. We went paperless over 5 years ago, we turn off our computers and A/C at the end of the day, we work remotely to decrease driving and we work to share information that promotes social justice and environmental conservation.
As an individual, Coach Beverly is committing to actualizing these 10 Actions in her life and will share her stories as she stumbles, moves forward, and incorporates these changes. It’s not going to be pretty or perfect, but behavior change never is.
We have decided that we will keep this offer on the table for one more week. Although we might run out of plantable Wildflower Postcards, we will send you a PocketCard in exchange for your commitment. We believe in our ability to contribute to positive change. We are proud of our community of diabetes educators and advocates. You rock.
Change isn’t easy. We aren’t going for perfect, we are starting with intention and slowly moving to action, giving ourselves lots of grace along the way. I am excited to share my successes and wrong turns with you on this journey and we would love to hear from you too!
Read more on our blog, Earth Day Secrets to Improving Planet Health
Stay tuned and we share details and resources on each of these 10 Steps over the next few months. And, please send us your stories too at [email protected]. We want to hear from you!
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.
Our March 23rd Question caused a lot of commotion. Less than half (43%) of respondents chose the best answer, so we wanted to dive deeper into this question of how many pens are needed.
Before we start though, if you don’t want any spoilers and haven’t tried the question yet, you can answer below: Answer Question
Question: JR is 24 years old and uses an insulin pen for their basal insulin injections each evening. JR takes 30 units a night and each insulin pen holds 300 units of insulin.
How many insulin pens would JR need for one month?
Answer Choices:
As shown above, the most common choice was option 2, the second most common answer was option 1, then option 4, and finally option 3.
We had over 1,500 attempts at getting to the best answer. If you are thinking about taking the certification exam, the content of this practice test question will set you up for success. The exam will present questions that require test takers to make sure the answer matches the key intent of the question. This is also a word problem. Setting up the problem correctly before doing the math is very important.
In this situation, we are asked to answer, “How many insulin pens would JR need for one month?” The main goal of this question is to make sure that test-takers incorporate the 2 unit air shot into calculating how much insulin is needed for the month.
Answer 1 is incorrect, 37.59% chose this answer, “3 pens.” JR takes 30 units of basal insulin a night. However, we know that JR needs to prime their insulin pen with a 2 unit air shot before each injection. To make sure the insulin pen and needle are working correctly, we instruct people to use a new pen needle and to prime the pen before injection. This means that JR will use 32 units of insulin each night (30 units for the injection, 2 units to prime the pen).
32 units x 30 days = 960 units. If each pen holds 300 units, 3 pens only hold 900 units. JR would run out of insulin at least 2 days ahead of time. For this reason, this answer is not correct.
Answer 2 is correct, 43.94% of you chose this answer, “4 pens.” Great job. You considered that JR needs to prime their pen before each injection.
JR takes 30 units of basal insulin a night. We know that JR needs to prime their insulin pen with a 2 unit air shot before each injection. To make sure the insulin pen and needle are working correctly, we instruct people to use a new pen needle and to prime it before injection. This means that JR will use 32 units of insulin each night (30 units for the injection, 2 units to prime the pen).
32 units x 30 days = 960 units. If each pen holds 300 units, JR will need 4 insulin pens for the month.
Answer 3 is incorrect, 9.20% of you chose this answer, “10 pens.” This was a juicy answer. Respondents who chose this probably looked quickly at the question and divided 300 by 30 to get 10 pens. In this question, paying attention to the details before diving into math is really important.
Each pen holds 300 units and JR takes 30 units of insulin a night. When you add in the 2 units to prime the pen, JR needs 4 insulin pens a month.
Answer 4 is incorrect, 9.27% of you chose this answer, “1 box.” This is another juicy answer. But, it doesn’t match the unit of measure of the question. The question asks, how many insulin pens and this response answers with a different unit, 1 box. The question also doesn’t ask how the prescription would be written. It only asks for how many pens. For this reason, this is not the best answer.
However, in the clinical setting, the prescription would be written for a box of 5 pens, since that is the usual dispensing unit.
Insulin Storage Cheat Sheet – Download for FREE. Provides all kinds of important details on the storage of different types of insulin pens, vials, and more!
We hope you appreciate this week’s rationale! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our Question of the Week and participate in this fun learning activity!
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
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Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.
We interviewed the founder of Diabetes Education Services to discover her personal and professional motivations to go from a floor nurse to a leader in the field of diabetes.
Question: Why Did You Become a CDCES?
Coach Beverly: Over 20 years ago, as the Manager of our Health Education Department at CIGNA (an HMO), our team decided that we wanted to become a magnet site for diabetes care and education in our community. To achieve this, we encouraged our entire team to study for their CDE (now CDCES) to showcase our dedication to providing the best diabetes care.
Question: Has Holding the CDCES Credential Provided You with Additional Professional Opportunities? Please share one or two examples.
Coach Beverly: Holding this credential has been the best professional decision of my career. Having a master’s degree plus my CDCES opened the door for me to be hired as the Diabetes Nurse Specialist at Stanford Hospital in 1994. Working at Stanford provided me the opportunity to initiate bold strategies to improve diabetes care and outcomes in a busy, demanding, and innovative teaching hospital. I learned how to manage very complex patients and build interdisciplinary professional teams to provide the best care from admission to discharge and beyond.
My experience as a Diabetes Specialist at Stanford Hospital gave me the confidence, clinical knowledge and courage to launch my own company.
In 1998, I applied for my first business license as Diabetes Education Services. Our company is dedicated to helping health care professionals realize their dream of becoming certified diabetes specialists. In operation for over 20 years, our small but mighty organization is laser-focused on providing high-quality resources and services for our community of health care professionals.
I love coming to work every day and figuring out new ways of delivering content that is meaningful, evidence-based, and infused with compassion.
Without my CDCES, none of these life-changing opportunities would have been possible.
Question: What Would you Say to Someone Who is Considering Becoming a CDCES in the Future?
Coach Beverly: Welcome to our awesome community! Every day that I show up to work as a diabetes specialist, I feel that I am a part of something bigger. This community passionately and collectively works toward improving the care and quality of life for people living with diabetes. Diabetes specialists also have the opportunity to work in a variety of settings, to teach individuals or groups, or on a community level to advocate for excellence in diabetes care. Even though I have worked in this field for over 20 years, I am challenged, I have the opportunity to role-model compassionate care and I love the people I get to work with.
Question: Share an Achievement or Special Moment You’ve had working as a CDCES?
Coach Beverly: An achievement that I am particularly proud of is the LifeChanger of the Year Award. I was nominated by a person with diabetes who attended our hospital’s diabetes self-management program we called “Diabetes Survival Camp.” She was an enthusiastic participant and brought her husband to each class. After graduation, she started attending our monthly support group and shared a lot of helpful information. When I received the letter that she had nominated me for this prestigious national award and I had won, I was overjoyed and deeply touched.
Her nomination reminded me that the everyday work we do touches people profoundly.
We listen, help with problem-solving, and we lift people up who are discouraged. We celebrate their victories and we let them know through our words and gestures that we believe in them. There is no better job in the world.
This course will transform your test anxiety into calm self-confidence and test-taking readiness.
We will review sample test questions and the reasoning behind choosing the right answers. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Instructor: Beverly Thomassian RN, MPH, CDCES, BC-ADM is a working educator who has passed her CDCES Exam 6 times. She is a nationally recognized diabetes expert for over 25 years.
Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Conference | April 15-17, 2021
Whether you are new to diabetes or a seasoned expert, you’ll benefit from this virtual conference with the latest research plus critical content that you can immediately apply to your clinical practice. If you are interested in taking the CDCES or BC-ADM exam or are seeking a state-of-the-art review of current diabetes care, this course is for you.
Entire Program Fee: $399
Dates: April 15-17, 2021
3 Expert Speakers
CEs: 30+ CE hours
Live Webinar Schedule: All webinars start and end times are in Pacific Standard Time
Come join our Virtual DiabetesEd Specialist Program.
Team of expert faculty includes:
In addition to informative lectures, we also use group activities and case studies to highlight the essential knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to succeed in diabetes education today!
Prepare for CDCES or BC-ADM certification or earn hours for renewal.
Your registrations include access to all the Online Sessions plus Bonus Courses through December 31st, 2021.
This virtual program includes:
3 day live webinar courses from April 15th-17th (20 CEs) + enrollment in our Bonus Bundle (14.0+ CEs) from now through December 2021.
View full Conference Schedule and Faculty.
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]
Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.
For our March 16th Question of the Week, over 86% of respondents chose the best answer!
Before we start though, if you don’t want any spoilers and haven’t tried the question yet, you can answer below: Answer Question
Question: PZ arrives for their diabetes appointment with their food diary and glucose log book. PZ’s blood glucose levels have improved since last visit by about 20 points, with morning glucose levels in the 130 range and bedtime glucose in the 180 range. When you ask PZ about what changes they have made, PZ shrugs their shoulders and says, “I quit eating tortillas because my children said they are bad for me.”
What is the best response?
Answer Choices:
As shown above, the most common choice was option 4, the second most common answer was option 2, then option 1, and finally option 3.
If you are thinking about taking the certification exam, the content of this practice test question will set you up for success. The exam will present questions that require test takers to apply a blend of science coupled with psychosocial awareness to determine the best answer.
Answer 1 is incorrect, 2.31% chose this answer. “Good for you, giving up tortillas is really hard”. We notice that PZ shrugs their shoulders when they tell us they have given up tortillas. In addition, PZ states that they have stopped eating tortillas, not because they think it is best for them to stop, but because their children advised them that tortillas are bad. The word “bad” is loaded with judgment and perhaps PZ is feeling ashamed for eating this traditional food that has been part of their everyday life for decades. For this response, instead of affirming giving up tortillas, a better choice would be to explore this choice further.
Answer 2 is incorrect, 9.49% of you chose this answer. “Your children sound like they are worried about your health?” This seems like an accurate response, but is it the BEST response? The goal of DSME is to provide a person-centered approach. This question puts the emphasis on the children’s belief that tortillas are bad instead of exploring how the person with diabetes is responding to this drastic behavior change.
Answer 3 is incorrect, 1.28% of you chose this answer “Yes, we don’t recommend tortillas since they are high in starch.” One corn tortilla has 15gms of carbohydrate, plus fiber and other micronutrients. Tortillas can absolutely be included as part of a healthy meal plan. In addition, tortillas are more than a serving of starch, they are a central and traditional part of the meal for many cultures.
Answer 4 is correct, 86.92% of you chose this answer. ” How are you feeling about giving up tortillas?” GREAT JOB. Most of you chose this person-centered response which gives us an opportunity to see how giving up tortillas is impacting PZ from an emotional standpoint. As diabetes specialists, we know that eliminating tortillas completely may not be the best choice from an evidence-based and emotional perspective.
We hope you appreciate this week’s rationale! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our Question of the Week and participate in this fun learning activity!
Sign up for Diabetes Blog Bytes – we post one daily Blog Byte from Monday to Friday. And of course, Tuesday is our Question of the Week. It’s Informative and FREE! Sign up below!
[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]
Accreditation: Diabetes Education Services is an approved provider by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider 12640, and Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), Provider DI002. Since these programs are approved by the CDR it satisfies the CE requirements for the CDCES regardless of your profession.*
The use of DES products does not guarantee the successful passage of the CDCES exam. CBDCE does not endorse any preparatory or review materials for the CDCES exam, except for those published by CBDCE.