20/05/2023
DIABETES EDUCATOR TSHIKOMBEDZE L.O
Diabetes Patient Program
I am a Professional Nurse, Diabetes Coach and Meta Coach. I have been supporting people living with diabetes for more than 10 years now, with my first experience at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in 2012 where I was given an opportunity to further my studies in 2013 on Diabetes Management at University of Cape Town.
I offer diabetes education program for people living with diabetes. I am dedicated to giving you the right TOOLS you need to better manage your diabetes so you KNOW why your blood sugar reacts as it does or why your HbA1c is high(risks for diabetes complications) and what YOU can do about it.
I do not have a special Diabetes Patient Program that I enroll all my clients in. Instead, I will ask you to track what you are doing for minimum 7 days. Coaching sessions will take the following into consideration, Healthy Eating Plan, Medications, Physical Activities, Lifestyle, Blood Glucose Monitoring, etc. We can analyse that data and help you come up with a CARE PLAN that is right for you and set your own GOALS.
For most people, the DATA during our sessions will reveal opportunities to make behaviour changes to your medications, eating plan, or lifestyle that can have a huge impact on your diabetes management and quality of life.
All diabetes education sessions are individual Face to Face or Telephonically or Virtually to address what’s most important to you when it comes to managing your diabetes. Time on each session is based on your needs, about 30-45 minutes and the GOAL is that you will leave each session with new diabetes management TOOLS and KNOWLEDGE that you can use for the rest of your life.
I offer different diabetes coaching sessions based on individual needs. Each session is R550 or based on Medical Aid PMBs for Diabetes Educator and includes:
1. An Analysis of Data you send and suggestions for improvements
2. One 45 minutes coaching session to make an Action Plan together
3. One 45-minutes coaching session 1-2 weeks later to Evaluate Progress and make adjustments to the plan
4. Individual 20 minutes Follow-up sessions are R350.
Blood Sugar Management Session:
The Coaching session focuses more on people who struggle with daily blood sugar control or when your HbA1c is above your target >7.0% or your blood sugar levels are out of range most of the time.
If you feel like you have tried everything and you’re looking for more personalised support outside what your health care pprofessional can offer, this is the program for you!
The GOAL is to give you the tools and the knowledge on blood sugar targets and how to analyse your blood sugar data so that you will become more empowered to make the right changes needed to be successful.
Before our sessions, you are required to send all your medication names, blood sugar data and I will do a full analysis. In our sessions, I will walk you through what I see in your data, suggest improvement ideas, and educate you on how to do these types of analyses on your own so that you can continue your progress after the coaching program is over.
With the right TOOLS and KNOWLEDGE, you can achieve the best diabetes management you are striving for!
Physical Activities Management Session:
Exercise and diabetes management can be tough, frustrating and hard to figure out. You might be experiencing low or high blood sugars during or after workouts and it might just all seem random. Or you might be too scared of low blood sugars to even get started.
We can help you crack the code and support you in finding YOUR own formula for being physical activity, reducing your amount of out-of-range blood sugars and making exercise much more enjoyable and safer.
Our goal is to give you the tools and the knowledge of how exercise impacts your diabetes medications, blood sugar levels and what strategies you can implement to exercise safely and effectively with diabetes.
If you are already exercising, we will have to track your exercise and blood sugar patterns using our Blood Glucose Diary. Prior to your session, we will do a full analysis of your data.
In our sessions, we will walk you through what we see in your data, educate on techniques for managing medications, food around exercise and help you create an Action Plan if necessary.
Insulin Therapy Management Session:
For people with diabetes who take insulin or other injectable diabetes medications, we will give evidence-based standardized methods to improve clinical outcomes. We enhance and maximise patient engagement in self-care management, an understanding of the action of medication, the comfort of the injection, safe or effective medication dosing including when or how to take, site inspection and rotation to decrease absorption variability.As with any type of patient education, it is essential to individualise the educational needs assessment (determining what the patient already knows/does, as well as exploring fears and barriers to self-care) and to make accommodations for patient literacy and numeracy levels, cognitive and visual abilities, and other impairment issues. We will assess skills and understanding by observing teach-back and having you describe an Action Plan.
We will cover the following or based on your needs:
1. Educate about injection technique for delivery of insulin, including a review of hypoglycemia (causes, detection, treatment and prevention) as well as when to check blood glucose and individualized pre and post meal targets
2. Periodic review of injection technique and sites, especially when blood glucose control is suboptimal
3. Use, care and action of the medication(s) to be administered
4. Choice of injection devices, considering ease of use and patient limitations e.g. manual dexterity, hearing and visual impairment
5. For pre-filled devices, considering opened expiration date, total number of units/mg in device and daily dose when choosing devices, when applicable
6. Injection site selection and rotation, including teaching patient to examine sites for lipohypertrophy
7. Choice of needle: length and gauge to maximize comfort and efficacy
8. Technique Timing of injection, related to the effect of the medication, meals, activity and stressors
9. Targets for dosing adjustments related to monitoring, activity, stressors, and meals
10. Injection discomfort and complications
Safe disposal of used sharps
11. Quality control including medication storage considerations, opened and unopened expiration dates
12. Inspection of the injectable medication before each use
Healthy Eating Management Session:
Managing blood sugar is the key to living well with diabetes and eating well is the key to managing blood sugar. But what does it mean to eat well? Simply put, eat healthy foods in the right amounts at the right times so your blood sugar stays in your target range as much as possible.
We will assess your current eating plan and help you create your own healthy eating plan and give you the resources, tips, strategies and ideas to make it easier to eat well.
Diabetes Complications Session:
The goal of diabetes management is to help people with diabetes to live a healthy life. We will give you support to manage diabetes in a way that works for you and your lifestyle. You will learn practical skills to manage your blood sugar, eat well, be active, and solve problems to help you live well without diabetes.
We will help you improve your blood sugar levels so you can prevent or delay serious diabetes complications, such as heart disease, kidney disease, and vision loss. This improvement can help you avoid emergency care, save money on health care costs, and improve your quality of life
Diabetes Foot Care Session:
People with diabetes are at increased risk of foot infections. We will discuss on how you to protect your feet with these simple foot care guidelines:
1. Inspect and wash your feet daily.
2. Look for redness, swelling, cuts, blisters and nail problems.
3. When washing your feet, use lukewarm water and dry gently, especially between the toes.
4. Wear clean, dry socks and properly fitting shoes.
5. Don't go barefoot.
6. Trim your toenails carefully. Cut the nails straight across.
7. You might want to have this task done professionally, especially if you have thickened nails, vision impairment or numbness in your feet.
Podiatrist referrals.
Contact Us on: 0720575206 OR email lufunohealth.wellnessclinic.co.za
