Importance of Follow-Up
Health care providers typically discuss the importance of self-care with people once they receive a diabetes diagnosis. Self-care topics include blood glucose monitoring, taking medication as prescribed, regular physical activity, healthy eating, and weight management.14
It is essential that providers actively follow up with people with diabetes and reinforce self-care advice. Similarly, to increase enrollment and attendance rates for DSMES services, the referring provider and the DSMES service can add follow-up reminders to their routine processes.
Providers and educators are vital in linking their patients to DSMES services to help them sustain behaviors needed to self-manage their diabetes. The American Diabetes Association Plan can be used to identify local resources on emotional health, nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, support groups, and more as part of ongoing diabetes support.