Grumps in Australia last month. (He’s on the left.)
In a former life, I was a music teacher. It was always very clear to me that there was no one way to teach that worked for all kids, and there was a need to somehow tailor my teaching style to meet the kid standing in front of me.
A common cry in diabetes is that no one size fits all when it comes to diabetes management or treatment plans. Surely, that same idea extends to diabetes education.
Today, Grumps is back at Diabetogenic with his next #WWGD post, (which is good because I am far too busy eating my way around Italy). He’s talking about learning styles when it comes to diabetes, and what works for him.
Take it away, Grumps. (I’ll just go back to slurping through this lemon granita…)
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Since being diagnosed back in the dark ages, when there was no internet and my BG check was called a ‘BM test’, I have had to learn medical stuff.
I’m OK with that.
I mean really OK.
I just see my body as the vehicle that I have in order to drive my way through life, to get to the places that I want to be. As I get older this vehicle that I live in gets a bit more banged up. Bits of it get damaged or fail. Hopefully my gear stick never falls off…
I do, of course, have the luxury of age. Diagnosed at the age of twenty-five, it was easy for me to accept immediately, and I just needed to know what manual things I needed to do to compensate for the glitch in my engine management system.
Queue the learning of medical stuff. Constant learning of some quite complicated and detailed stuff.
So, this is where my issues lie. I’m no great student. I have the attention span of a…
I don’t learn well by reading, or listening so if you want me to learn that way, then keep it brief and use simple and short words.
Ah…
That’s not really how medical stuff is written, now is it?
Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about my diabetes, with most of that learning in the latter years with the advent of the internet, social media and good old You Tube. As a visual learner, these have really helped.
Now, these days I’ve had to learn more medical stuff. Different stuff. All about my foot and associated diabetes-related complications, (I know, I don’t mention it often…), and the other day I got the results sent through of my latest MRI scan, packed with medical stuff…
Errrrmm. What?
Faced with all these words and terms… (I know, it’s taken a while to get to this right?)… ‘What Would Grumpy Do?’ (#WWGD)
In a word. Pictures!
A bit of Googling, a bit of fiddling and it all starts to make sense to me.
I sent it to my podiatry team. They liked it and are considering adopting it as an idea for explaining foot issue to the people that are living with them.
I have learnt over time that this is the best way for me to understand all of this medical stuff, which means that I can do what I need to keep this vintage vehicle on the road.
Maybe a person’s learning style should be assessed and understood at diagnosis in order to ensure that all of the information that we need to absorb is given to us in the way we need it to be?
Our diabetes may vary. So does the way we learn.
Live Long and Bolus!
Grumps
You can get more from The Grumpy Pumper by checking out his blog here. And following him on Twitter here.
Diabetogenic 
3 comments
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September 20, 2018 at 4:38 pm
Bronwyn
I appreciate your very valid views on one size does not fir all. Have just been to pick up my insulin script from chemist to find the suppliers are no longer supplying animal insulin (I use beef – only as my control is crapped out on synthetic insulin). Can anyone pursue this to find if animal insulin willl continue to be available? I lobbied my local MP years back when they threatened to remove it. Is there a better way to approach this in the age of online wonderfulness as mentioned in your blog Grumpy? I too was diagnosed in perhaps darker ages than yourself and have lived with T1 since ‘79 so will be 40 years next year. Began on animal insulin (porcine-pig), only urine testing and syringes. 20years ago went back to animal insulin with my first pregnancy ( and poor control – blacking out at work with sudden lows) and with little ones to care for have stayed on it mostly since, though one time my endo decided I should try synthetics again. Within a short while he decided I could no longer drive as my lows were once again erratic. I insisted I go back on the animal insulin rather than simply accept I was headed for a lifetime of T1 complications. Decent control again, amazing (if it’s not broke, why fix it?) I have no serious long term complications and at 51 feel great! I so don’t want to be unable to work ( I am a teacher) or drive or care for my family, or my teenagers having to care for me. Any help available?
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September 20, 2018 at 6:02 pm
meltwicediabetes
Totally agree with this, I’d also add that as an educator we learn by socially constructing meaning, that’s why I think it is so important that people with diabetes can share their experiences either IRL or online. Together we make meaning out of our experiences, we make sense of things said to us& things we’ve read. Sharing our narratives is vital to make sense of the complicated experience of living with type 1 diabetes.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and what you’ve learned Grumps (& Renza for facilitating), this will help those who may be experiencing similar now or sometime in the future.
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September 20, 2018 at 7:17 pm
John Grumitt (@JohnGrumitt)
Spot on Grumps. I refused to attend education for 18 years, not because I’m averse to learning, rather the thought of sitting in a hospital room for a week with a bunch of other people with diabetes being told what to do filled me with horror. Of course, I was wrong and got loads from DAFNE.
Now I have done something about it @changinghealth, to provide telephone coaching support for people with and at risk of diabetes, coupled with digital access to evidenced based education material.
In their 121 sessions, coaches first explore the perceptions that an individual holds BEFORE going any further. Only by doing so are they able to support people through the same lens.
A point evidently lost on some which may explain the enormous latent opportunity for health systems and users (including us people with diabetes) to get far more out of interaction, be that appointments, calls, group classes, emails or pigeon delivery.
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