Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)
Test
The Certified Diabetes Educator is a healthcare professional who specializes in caring for patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes. Most of the care is focused on educating the patient on the proper management of their diabetes. This involves addressing not only the medical management of the disease, but also the dietary and lifestyle changes that are made with diabetes.
In order to become a Certified Diabetes Educator, the applicant must be a licensed nurse, pharmacist, physician, dietitian, or other eligible healthcare provider. The applicant must have worked at least 2 years in diabetes education, as well as complete at least 1,000 hours in providing diabetes education and currently be working in a role as a diabetes educator.
The Certified Diabetes Educator exam is offered twice a year, generally Spring and Fall. The exam fee for the initial certification is $350. To renew the certification, the cost is $250. The exam is offered in every state, including Alaska and Hawaii, in various cities.
The Certified Diabetes Educator exam is made up of 200 questions and 4 hours are allotted to complete the exam. Twenty-five of these questions are control questions to test for future exams. The exam contains questions pertaining to assessing the patient with diabetes, along with questions regarding formulating a treatment plan for the patient. Barriers to educating the diabetic patient are addressed, as well as addressing the lifestyle changes that should be changed.
To maintain Certified Diabetes Educator certification, the healthcare professional can retake the exam or complete continuing education materials every 5 ears. At least 75 hours of continuing education activities should be completed in the areas of diabetes management and education. Starting in 2010, renewal of the Certified Diabetes Educator credential will require that at least 1,000 hours of direct patient care relating to diabetes education has been completed over the certification period.
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