The power of creative medical education: how one retirement community is learning how to manage diabetes.

Abstract

Although the NIH announced that it would launch a systematic campaign to fight obesity, which now affects nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population, one of the primary complications of obesity is diabetes, which has been a serious clinical issue for many years. While an array of pharmacotherapeutic interventions for diabetes treatment emerged over the last twenty years, the ongoing management of diabetes often depends upon the quality and accessibility of provider services offered by one's health plan. This article examines one retirement community's response to the educational needs of its diabetic residents. Through a series of ongoing, semi-structured and voluntary meetings, this community appears to effectively address the behavioral, social and interpersonal concerns of diabetics in a manner that can serve as a model for other and larger communities of its kind. Since diabetes has fast become a serious concern among various demographic groups, this manuscript will also review another educational initiative and make recommendations for implementing successful elements elsewhere.