Congratulations to Scarborough Health Network’s (SHN) Diabetes Program for being recognized by Diabetes Canada for meeting the Standards for Diabetes Education in Canada!

For our patients, receiving expert diabetes care and education is vital for patients to successfully manage their diabetes to prevent and treat short and long term complications. With this accreditation, our patients and families can continue to be confident that the level of care they are receiving meets a standard of excellence.

Every five years, Diabetes Canada outlines standards, which diabetes programs must meet in order to be recognized as a program that provides excellent care for their patients and families.

Working on separate teams to address the uniqueness of each, the Diabetes Education Centres (DEC) and the Centre for Complex Diabetes Care (CCDC) engaged in the self-assessment process which looked at three specific areas of the diabetes program:

    1. The program and support services;
    2. How education is provided; and
    3. The impact or outcome.

“Conducting this self-assessment brought to light the amount of incredible work that is done daily across our diabetes program,” noted Glencia Brookes Dos-Santos, Manager, In-patient Nephrology and Diabetes. “The team came together in a true show of collaboration to gather all of the information for the self-assessment to ensure that we were maintaining the highest standards of diabetes care.”

The process, which placed a focus on patient satisfaction, included conducting patient surveys, running focus groups gathering patient feedback, and one-on-one discussions with patients and families.

Over a period of six months, a core group from each team, which included manager Glencia Brookes-Dos Santos;  Sandra Devine, RN; Jacqueline Hurtis, RD; Cathy Robb, RN; Anna Lowry, Pharm; and Stephanie Kwok, RD; and Dana Green, DS; met to work on completing the deliverables for the standards recognition process.

There is a strong prevalence of diabetes in individuals of Asian, South Asian, and Caribbean descent. Much of Scarborough’s population is made up of these cultural groups.

SHN partners with many health care and community organizations to ensure timely access to high-quality services in the most appropriate setting. Our multidisciplinary teams provide effective evidence based care for our diabetes patients and families. Our exceptional quality services include diagnostic testing, assessments, interventions, follow-up, and self-management education to provide integrated, patient-focused care from hospital to community to improve quality of life for our patients living with diabetes. SHN stands as a leader in diabetes management and prevention strategies.

For more information on Diabetes Education at SHN, visit https://www.shn.ca/diabetes-education/.