Preventing Diabetes Complications: An Overview for Primary Care RNs

CAPACITY offers free, self-paced courses designed to help RNs strengthen knowledge and skills to practice to the full scope of license in
community-based primary care settings

In this module, the learner will review the pathophysiology behind the common diabetes complications of peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy, and retinopathy. Additionally, the impact of diabetes on co-morbid conditions will be discussed, including current screening guidelines. The participant will apply skills for the assessment of diabetic neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease.

The emphasis for this module is on the impact the RN can have on aspects of diabetes management. Medical management of these complications is an important element, but not the focus for this lesson.

Objectives

• Describe the pathophysiology behind common complications of diabetes and the nursing interventions to address these complications.
• Understand how diabetes affects chronic conditions and co-morbidities, and current screening guidelines.
• Apply assessment skills for diabetic neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease.

Contact Hours

Emory Nursing Professional Development Center (ENPDC) is accredited as a provider of nursing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Attendees to this CNE activity will be awarded 0.5 contact hours by ENPDC. To obtain contact hours participants must attend and participate in the entire activity, click onto all links, review all resources as well as complete the evaluation at the end.

ENPDC has evaluated everyone who has the ability to control content of this activity (planning committee members, subject matter experts, presenters) and found they have no conflict of interest.