Simple Language Diabetes Education Guides
Simple Language Guides for Insulin Pumps, Pens and Continuous Glucose Monitors for People with Type 1 Diabetes and Instructors, in English and Spanish
More options for newer diabetes treatments are now available for people with type 1 diabetes (also people with type 2 diabetes who use insulin). Increased insurance coverage from the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid to more states allows more diabetes patients to use insulin pens, pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGM) because of the new coverage options these plans provided.
​
But insurance coverage isn’t enough. It is still hard to learn how to use new devices because all the training guides are written at an 11th grade reading level. There is also a need for basic guides to better understand the options to know if the new tools and devices are right for you. For more patients to use these new tools we made a series of guides in easy-to-read English and Spanish to learn about the new diabetes tools. The goal of the new devices is to make diabetes treatment easier and better. So, we also created guides that teach the basics of taking care of diabetes and share how the new tools can help.
With the help of a grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and advice from our patient and community advisors, we were able to develop a series of simple language guides that introduced the basics of how insulin pens, pumps and CGMs work and described how people with diabetes could improve their diabetes treatment.
The guides are available in simple English and Spanish and there are separate guides for adults, teens and children. These guides are free to download use and share. Here are the topics:
​
-
How Can a Continuous Glucose Monitor Help Me
Manage My Diabetes Better? -
How Can Carb Counting and using a CGM Help
Me Manage My Type 1 Diabetes Better?
In addition to the patient guides there are six instructor
guides in English and Spanish that cover pump and
pen instruction and essential diabetes management topics.
Here are the topics:
​
These guides are written in a question-and-answer conversation format between patients and diabetes care team members and used over 100 illustrations to break up the text. The first set of guides has been recognized by the American Diabetes Association and were distributed in their 78th Scientific Session Abstract Book as the supplement to the journal Diabetes.
The original and new guides are free to use by any individual or organization to promote diabetes education and educate patients on the use of insulin pens, pumps and CGMs.
Click on either the link for the Simple Guides for Patients, or Simple Guides for Instructors to view the available options. The Guides are all open-source and freely available to use as a PDF, printed or hosted on a website to share with a wider audience.
