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The Diabetes Education Renaissance

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The Renaissance Period (1350–1650) is described as a time of renewal and rebirth. It served as the transition from the Middle Ages to modernism, with an end to feudalism and a rise of recognition of the individual. During the Renaissance, there were enormous intellectual and scientific accomplishments that enriched the developing world. In many ways, the influence of the Renaissance on society parallels the evolution of diabetes education.¹

From the time that it was recognized that diabetes required complicated treatment and self-discipline, education became essential to its management. The earliest treatments involving starvation diets had to rely on the expertise of those who understood nutrition. Although it was an unsophisticated therapy, even that required an expertise akin to that of a dietitian to support nutritional needs. Later, with the discovery of insulin and the earliest attempts at facilitating appropriate delivery and care, the role of nurses was recognized. One of the first patients to receive insulin relied on a nurse who assisted with injections, nutrition, and activity plans. In the early days of insulin therapy, Elliott Joslin had the wisdom to introduce the concept of "traveling nurses."²

After the discovery of insulin, when diabetes was considered for a time to be "cured," the development of new therapies and educational interventions was stagnant. People soon realized, however, that diabetes complications were a serious consequence and that insulin therapy alone was not the final answer. Oral agents were introduced in the late 1950s. Blood glucose monitoring arrived in the 1970s and was heralded as the solution to the problem of complications.

At a 1986 American . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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