Diabetes Dateline
NDEP Publishes New Guide Designed to Help Schools Manage Diabetes in Children
At last! A comprehensive guide for managing diabetes in the school setting is available from the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel reflects a consensus from a broad spectrum of Federal agencies and leading organizations in the diabetes and education communities. The guide demonstrates how schools can better meet the medical needs of their students with diabetes while ensuring them access to all educational opportunities.
Since its publication in fall 2003, the school guide has received overwhelmingly positive response. "School nurses, administrators, and parents love this guide!" reports Joanne Gallivan, director of the NDEP for the National Institutes of Health. "The enthusiastic feedback we have received from hundreds of people across the country has been very gratifying, especially in light of the tremendous effort put forth by the partners involved in its development," said Gallivan.
The NDEP Guide was developed in response to problems reported to the American Diabetes Association and others by both parents of students with diabetes and school personnel. Typical problems involved students who had no one to help them with daily diabetes care tasks (such as checking blood glucose levels or administering insulin) or to help them in case of a diabetes emergency. Other students were not permitted to self-manage their diabetes. Still others were excluded from extracurricular events and field trips—or even told that they are not welcome at a particular school because they have diabetes.
Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel sets out a team approach to diabetes management in schools and outlines the roles and responsibilities of all key school personnel, including school nurses, administrators, teachers, coaches and physical education instructors, bus drivers, lunchroom staff, guidance counselors, as well as parents and students with diabetes. According to the guide, three key ingredients are needed to ensure successful teamwork:
- All school staff members who have responsibility for students with diabetes have a basic understanding of the disease and the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.
- The school nurse and/or other trained personnel are available to assist with routine and emergency diabetes care tasks.
- Students with diabetes have the ability and are empowered to self-manage their disease as appropriate.
A comprehensive primer provides information about diabetes and reviews the components for planning and implementing diabetes management in school. Also included are sample medical and emergency tools for use in the school setting and information about the key Federal laws that address schools' responsibilities to students with diabetes.
Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel is supported by the following agencies and organizations:
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association for Health Education
American Association of Diabetes Educators
American Diabetes Association
American Dietetic Association
American Medical Association
Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Indian Health Service
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International
Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Association of School Nurses
National Association of Secondary School Principals
National Association of State Boards of Education
National Diabetes Education Program
National Education Association Health Information Network
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health
U.S. Department of Education
To order a free copy of the school guide, call the National Diabetes Education Program at 1–800–438–5383. Single copies are free; additional copies cost $3, with a six-copy limit. You can also download a copy of the school guide from the NDEP website at www.ndep.nih.gov/resources/school.htm.
The NDEP is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and involves more than 200 public and private sector partners who work at the national, state, and local level.
NIH Publication No. 04–4562
May 2004
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