You can just call me CDE: Certified Diabetes Educator!
Hi friends!
This post has taken me awhile to get to, but better late than never, am I right 😉
Last May, I took a gruelling 4-hour exam, after months and months of studying to become a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), and late last month I got the results.
I am officially a T1D, RD, CDE.
So. Many. Letters.
And you better believe I’ll be using all of them on my official signing off documents 🙂
What does it mean – part 1
Officially, a Certified Diabetes Educator is a health professional (like me!) that is “committed to excellence in diabetes education“, and who has a “sound knowledge base in diabetes care, management, and education processes.” Good communication skills and passing the CDE exam are also must haves to be a Certified Diabetes Educator.
Unofficially, honestly, it’s an extra set of letters.
Don’t get me wrong, I am super proud of this achievement. I worked my butt off to attain it. And I will flaunt the heck out of it. But, the exam is predominantly based on the most up-to-date Diabetes Canada Guidelines, and I don’t agree with everything that Diabetes Canada promotes.
Yep. I said it.
Diabetes Canada may be our go-to for diabetes management recommendations in Canada, but a lot of the recommendations continue to be textbook recommendations. And we all know that T1D is not textbook.
What does it mean – part 2
But here’s the thing, I still think getting the CDE was extremely important for myself personally and professionally, for my clients, and for all of you that follow me.
I have the personal T1D knowledge, the professional registered dietitian knowledge, and now the extra professional CDE knowledge. Combining all of those knowledges allows for a much more rounded knowledge base that allows me to help generally elevate your knowledge base through this platform and my other social media platforms, and also to better individualize my recommendations for the people that I work with.
Because, friends, as that 1990s NBC PSA commercial many times boasted “The more you know…” IYKYK 🙂
Yours,
Katie Bartel, T1D, RD, CDE