Over the past few years, Diabetes Mellitus has unquestionably gained celebrity status. It has overloaded doctor offices, hospitals and headline news with increasing urgency. Each year over 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed further burdening an already strained health care system. Health professional education, delivered in a practical and disease focused manner is sorely needed to effectively address the immense challenge posed by the exponential growth of the disease.
As of 2001, diabetologists and certified diabetes educators at the Diabetes Research Institute are striving to meet the tremendous need within our community for diabetes education by providing innovative methods of diabetes education and management for both health care providers and patients managing the disease.
The main goal of the professional education programs is to facilitate knowledge acquisition and application, while understanding the complex and interrelated disease processes facing people with diabetes and their health care providers. Based on proven teaching strategies for diabetes management, these programs enable professionals in healthcare to become leaders in diabetes evaluation and management.
The Professional Education department has conducted several lectures on Basal/Bolus Insulin Therapy, Insulin Pump Therapy, Nutritional Management, Diabetes Management and a number of other diabetes-related topics. Our focus to provide health care professionals with the practical and clinically applicable information they require; our programs are customized to fit those needs. We have also developed and presented a number of preceptorships and industry based training in diabetes and diabetes management for the corporate health sector.
Our goal is not only to provide the most up-to-date and useful information to our communitys health care providers, but to also leave them with a superior level of knowledge and understanding about diabetes management. Our expectation is that through these programs, healthcare providers will develop a greater appreciation for the physical and psychosocial challenges facing the patient with diabetes in the 21st century.
Luigi Meneghini, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Director, Eleanor and Joseph Kosow Diabetes Treatment Center Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine can be reached at (305) 243-1062 or lmeneghi@med.miami.edu.
Over the past few years, Diabetes Mellitus has unquestionably gained celebrity status. It has overloaded doctor offices, hospitals and headline news with increasing urgency. Each year over 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed further burdening an already strained health care system. Health professional education, delivered in a practical and disease focused manner is sorely needed to effectively address the immense challenge posed by the exponential growth of the disease. 
