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Success for pioneering diabetes course devised with help of patients

A unique diabetes course which was piloted at Warwick Medical School for the first time last year is set to run again after attracting global interest. The Management of Diabetes in Hospital Clinical Areas (MDHCA) program is the only one of its kind available anywhere in the world and the next intake in October is attracting interest from the Middle East and India.

The year-long MDHCA was delivered for the first time in July 2006 by a team from Warwick Diabetes Care, part of Warwick Medical School. It followed patient concerns that their diabetes was not always treated properly when they were in hospital for other illnesses, mainly because many hospital staff had insufficient understanding of diabetes care. 
 
Diabetes patients worked with Warwick Diabetes Care to devise the content and structure of the course, and it was funded by an educational grant from healthcare company Novo Nordisk.

The first cohort of students is due to complete the course this month. Course leader Eve Nortley said the program gave staff the theoretical and practical knowledge to maintain an effective service for people with diabetes who were admitted to hospital.

She said: “The results so far are promising. We had 53 people sign up to do this course when we launched it last year, from 14 different disciplines including midwifery and nursing. Many of these students have not engaged in formal study at this level, if at all, so we are really pleased with the quality of the coursework.”

The first MDHCA course was delivered as work-based training, but the next course in October will be based at the Gibbet Hill campus. The primary care version of the course, Certificate in Diabetes Care has been running successfully at Warwick Medical School for many years.


For more information on the course, please visit http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/study/cpd/subject_index/diabetes/hca/

Kelly Parkes, Communications Officer
Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
k.e.parkes@warwick.ac.uk, 024 7615 0483