Heading Back to School with Diabetes
By the National Diabetes Education Program
Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children. For parents of children with diabetes, getting ready for a new school year includes a lot more than buying new clothes, backpacks, notebooks, and pens. It means buying diabetes supplies to keep at school and also preparing school staff to help keep their children safe at school and at school-sponsored activities.
“Nobody knows your child’s day-to-day needs and how to respond to a diabetes emergency better than you,” said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “That’s why it is so important to start the school year as part of the school health team, and to keep open the lines of communication throughout the school year.”
Both parents and school personnel can get the help they need from the National Diabetes Education Program’s (NDEP), Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel. This guide was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) and is an important resource for parents, schools, and health care professionals.
As the school year begins, parents of children with diabetes are encouraged to follow these tips from NDEP’s School Guide (available at www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/SchoolGuide) to help keep their children safe.
• Take action. Notify the school right away that your child has diabetes. Share your child’s medical information and provide up-to-date emergency contact numbers.
• Work with your child’s health care team to develop a “Diabetes Medical Management Plan.” This plan contains the medical orders for your child. It should be signed by the health care team and submitted to the school nurse at the start of each school year. An updated plan is needed if there are changes in your child’s diabetes care plan during the year. A sample plan is included in the NDEP School Guide.
• Meet with the school nurse to go over your child’s school health care plans. The school nurse will use the medical orders to prepare your child’s routine and emergency diabetes care plans at school. You can find samples of these plans in the School Guide.
• Provide the school with all supplies, medicines, and items needed to carry out your child’s health care and emergency plans. This includes blood sugar (glucose) testing items, supplies for taking insulin (IN-suh-lin) and urine and blood ketone testing, snacks, quick-acting glucose products, and a glucagon (GLOO-kuh-gon) kit.
• Be an active member of the school health team. The School Guide includes action plans for all school personnel, and for you and your child to work together to manage diabetes care at school. Go over these checklists with your child so both of you can work as a team with school staff throughout the school year.
For more information about diabetes or our free diabetes classes call the local health department and ask to speak to the diabetes educator. You may also find more information on our website at www.lcdhd.org/diabetes/ . Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LCDHD or Twitter: www.twitter.com/LCDHD.
For more information about children with diabetes and to download or order a free copy of NDEP’s Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel, call 1-888-693-NDEP (1-888-693-6337), TTY: 1-866-569-1162 or visit www.YourDiabetesInfo.org.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Diabetes Education Program is jointly sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the support of more than 200 partner organizations.
Updated June 2013
