Diabetes team
What is my diabetes team?
Your diabetes team is a team of health care professionals and others that are there to support and assist you with all aspects of your care. You are the most important person in your diabetes team, because you make the day-to-day decisions about your diabetes and your.
Who should I include?
It is up to you who you include in your diabetes team and who you consult for advice and assistance.You may want to include people who are most likely to be with you when you make decisions or need support for example family members, partners, work colleagues and friends. Other members will include health care professionals. Some of these will be permanent members, and others will join when you might have a particular issue or health problem to resolve.
Some diabetes team members and their roles?
Some common health care professional members include:
- General Practitioner (GP) – assists you with all your health care needs, including your diabetes treatment, care and monitoring
- Credentialled Diabetes Educator (Diabetes educator) – assists you to better understand and cope with diabetes, and to learn the skills and practices you need to manage your diabetes
- Dietitian - a health care professional who assists you to better understand the role of food and nutrition in diabetes and health
- Podiatrist - checks the health of and treats your feet, and provides information about how to care for your feet
- Endocrinologist – specialises in care and treatment of diabetes and other disease related to hormones
- Ophthalmologist – specialises in the treatment of eye disease
- Optometrist Checks - checks your eyes and vision
- Pharmacist - dispenses your medicines and can give you advice about them
- Exercise physiologist - can help you to develop an exercise plan tailored to your needs
- Dentist - checks and treats any teeth and gum problems
- Psychologist or counselor - can help you to manage any stress or anxiety you might feel about living with diabetes
What to tell health care professionals who are not in your diabetes team?
Diabetes can affect your general health and any medical problems you have. We recommend that you let any health care professional you see know what type of diabetes you have and which diabetes tablets and insulin you take as this may affect the advice, care and treatment they provide.