An Exploration of Diabetes Care Provision in Sri Lanka and the United States of America
This report is a result of a Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship thatenabled the scholar to undertake study tours in Boston, USA and Sri Lanka toexplore how diabetes care provision is organised and apply the learning toimprove diabetes care, especially for minority ethnic population with diabetesin the United Kingdom (UK).
The scholar visited the world renowned Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston andthe National Diabetes Centre in Colombo. The report provides a detailedaccount of the observations made and lessons learnt and analysis of howlearning could be applied in practice in the UK.
The study tour to the Joslin Diabetes Centre to observe the Latino DiabetesInitiative was an opportunity to expand scholar’s knowledge on the provisionof culturally appropriate care for people with type 2 diabetes and prevention oftype 2 diabetes using the whole population approach. Furthermore, thescholar was able to have discussions about the importance of assessingpatients for health literacy using validated health literacy tools.
The study tour to the National Diabetes Centre was enlightening as it helpedto understand the variation of diabetes care across organisations, communityoutreach work to raise awareness of prevention of type 2 diabetes andculturally and linguistically appropriate diabetes care and education. Thescholar was able to observe diabetes care provision in the private, state andnon-governmental organisation settings. The “insulin Bank”, a highly valuableresource that provide insulin free of charge for children and young people withtype 1 diabetes and expectant mothers with gestational diabetes promptedthe scholar to reflect on the benefits NHS diabetes care in the UK.
The main learning points from this scholarship will be initially implementedlocally and good practice will be shared with other NHS organisations.