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Improving diabetes management

This course provides an introduction to the medical, psychological and social dimensions of diabetes. You will learn about the parts of the body and physiological processes involved in diabetes. This 55 hour non-accredited online course covers diagnosis and treatment as well as day-to-day management and monitoring for complications. You will also study diabetes within the context of the everyday life of the person with the condition. Living well with diabetes as well as the potential social and psychological impact is also considered. This course has been designed with a wide range of people in mind: people with diabetes, carers, lay educators and a variety of health care practitioners, including clinical support workers.

Standalone study only

You will not be awarded credits for studying this course. It is available for standalone study only and cannot be counted towards an OU qualification.

Short course

Short course code: KG003
Credits: This is a non-credit bearing course.
Study method: Distance Learning
Short course cost: See Registration
Entry requirements: See Am I ready?

Course details Am I ready? Registration Study materials

What you will study

This is an introductory course in which you will develop an understanding of the following:

What is diabetes? introduces different types of diabetes and the parts of the body and physical processes involved in the development of this condition.
Awareness of care looks at the team and service sector involved in diabetes care, standards for good care and the characteristics of an empowering relationship between practitioners and people with diabetes.
Medical management explores the diagnosis of, and treatments for diabetes including insulin and non-insulin therapies.
Screening for complications of diabetes discusses long-term complications, their effect on the person with diabetes, and the screening which is carried out to detect them.
Monitoring risk factors for diabetes complications further discusses the risks of long term complications and examines the diabetes annual review in detail. It examines the factors that increase these risks and how they are monitored.
Hyperglycaemia and Hypoglycaemia considers some general principles for treating high and low blood glucose levels. Situations that cause variations in blood glucose control and how people with diabetes can manage these is considered as well.
Psychosocial aspects of diabetes considers the psychological and the social consequences of living with diabetes.

This is a multimedia online course and will require around 55 hours of your time in total. You will learn through a carefully structured programme of study that incorporates interactive activities and video material. Although this course does not carry university credit, regular computer marked tests and self reviews can be used to test your understanding.

A Learning Advisor will also be available to you via a forum on the website, to answer questions and provide advice on the course learning resources and help you apply your learning to your workplace.

The strong link between course learning and your work practice creates relevant, enduring and transferable outcomes – and the learning is far richer than more expensive one-to-three day workshops.

The course features the distinctive strengths of The Open University (OU) from its years of expertise in supporting learning:

The convenience of accessing its clearly presented and sequenced materials and activities whenever suits you and wherever you have access to the protected course website – if you prefer, you can print key materials to work on them offline. Note taking templates are available and saved for you in the virtual learning environment.
Statement of participation from the OU which you can use this to demonstrate your continuing professional development (CPD) activity to your employer and/or professional body. (N.B. The course does not carry academic credit points.)

Some of the pages within the module contain links to external sites. Accessing these sites is part of the allocated study time for the module. You may also wish to undertake additional background study or reading if some of the concepts introduced are completely unfamiliar to you.

Vocational relevance

This course focuses on person-centred practice and so it is highly relevant to health and social care staff at all levels (registered practitioners and non-registered support staff), those directly involved in frontline care and those who need to understand the major challenges of diabetes and the importance of supporting service-users to ensure effective monitoring and management of diabetes. Participants will establish a strong link between what they learn and their work practice.

The way the course is delivered means it is accessible to people working in acute, community and domiciliary settings; staff have access to learning at any time that suits them (24/7) and can refer back to case studies, guidance and learning points at any time – even after they have completed study. This ensures that outcomes from study can be applied in practice long after the course has been completed. We are proud of the way the course creates relevant, enduring and transferable outcomes for health and social care service.

Professional recognition

Completion of the course enables us to recognise your work through an OU statement of participation that you can use to document your commitment to continuing professional development in your personal portfolio, or to provide evidence to employers or professional body.

Outside the UK

This course has been written primarily for a UK context with references to the UK context.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our Essential Documents website.

Entry

There are no entry requirements. For each course you can register and begin at any time during the life of the course. You can study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months depending on your course registration date and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.

Register

Start	End	England fee	Register
At anytime	Flexible - see Entry requirements for more detail	£185.00	Register

Ways to pay

Credit/Debit Card – We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa/Delta or Visa Electron.

Sponsorship – If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.

What's included

All learning materials are delivered entirely online. All study is self-directed. The course does not include tuition.

Computing requirements

You will need a device with internet access to study this module as a web browser is used to access learning materials and activities. Any other computer-based activities you will need to carry out, such as word processing, using spreadsheets, taking part in online forums, and submitting files to the university for assessment, are specified in the module materials. If any additional software is needed for these tasks it will either be provided or is freely available. You may need administrative privileges to install software required for this module. Windows 10 S is not suitable as it restricts software installation to software available in the Windows Application Store.

Suitable devices are:

A Windows desktop or laptop running Windows 7 or later operating system
A Macintosh desktop or laptop running OS X 10.8 or later operating system.

Some software will not run on Linux, iOS or Android devices.

A netbook, tablet, smartphone or Linux computer that supports one of the browsers listed below may be suitable. However, these devices may not be suitable for some activities. If you intend to use one of these devices please ensure you have access to a suitable desktop or laptop device that uses the Windows or OS X operating system in case you are unable to carry out all activities on your mobile device.

Recent versions of the following browsers are suitable for carrying out web-based activities:

Safari
Chrome
Firefox
Edge

Or Internet Explorer 9 and above.

Using a browser upgraded to the latest version will maximise security when accessing the internet.

Using company or library computers may prevent you accessing some internet materials or installing additional software.

To be able to talk and listen in our online discussions you will need both a microphone and speakers/headphones.

Devices with small screens may make it difficult to view the material provided and carry out the activities. However, a device that has a resolution of at least 1024 pixels horizontally and also at least 768 pixels vertically should be adequate.

See our Skills for OU study website for further information about computing skills for study and educational deals for buying Microsoft Office software.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs. If you are a new learner with the OU, make sure that you look at our website.

Improving diabetes management

Standalone study only

Short course

What you will study

Vocational relevance

Professional recognition

Outside the UK

Regulations

Entry

Register

Ways to pay

What's included

Computing requirements

If you have a disability

The Open University

OU Community

OU Students Community

Support

Study

Policy

What you will study

Vocational relevance

Professional recognition

Outside the UK

Regulations

Entry

Register

Ways to pay

What's included

Computing requirements

If you have a disability

Where do you live?