National Diabetes Management Workshop for Healthcare Professionals and Darling Downs PHN

For several years the most common answer when we surveyed students about what content they would like us to develop was “Diabetes Management”, as in many parts of Australia, there is limited access to Diabetes Educators, so Nursing staff and other health professionals were seeking education to assist their diabetic patients. 

The timing was never right for this course build until Darling Downs West Moreton Primary Health Network approached us in January 2024, asking if we could deliver a Diabetes workshop for a nursing cohort in their catchment with limited access to Credentialed Diabetes Educators (CDEs). We were delighted to take on the challenge and our Education Team got to work immediately. Thanks to this opportunity we have built out a Diabetes Management course that is now delivered nationally.

We developed the content over the course of three months and delivered the one-day in-person workshops in Toowoomba in May 2024. Our Lead Writer was a Credentialed Diabetes Educator, who led engagement and collaboration with a range of local stakeholders to ensure that the workshop met local needs, and referenced local health pathways and other local resources. 

The workshop deliveries were a huge success, with 100% of students indicating that their learning needs had been met and that participating had enhanced their skills in this area. The success of the Toowoomba workshops has led to the development of a course accessible to healthcare professionals across Australia.

The Diabetes Management Workshop has been designed to ​​provide up-to-date information and best practice knowledge, including education on type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. It is designed to meet the needs of a range of healthcare professionals who support patients with, or who are at risk of developing Diabetes. The course explores pathophysiology, medications, injection techniques, blood Glucose Levels (BGLs), monitoring, motivation techniques, and complication screening.

This course is delivered as a one-day in-person or virtual workshop and includes a range of practical and current skills to enable the delivery of diabetes treatment and management in the primary healthcare setting.

It took just four months from initial contact to in-classroom delivery. While the timeline was short, that isn’t to say that plenty of work went into this project. It all started with a list of desired learning outcomes from Darling Downs West Moreton PHN. Our Education team then picked up the baton and approached several course writers who could assist with the development. One of our Trainers took the lead on content development and worked closely with local stakeholders to ensure that the content not only was clinically relevant but also relevant to the local context.

It was quickly identified that the content would have appeal nationally and, prior to delivery in Toowoomba, plans were already in motion for a national rollout.

We had some outstanding feedback both from this initial delivery with Darling Downs West Moreton PHN and since running the workshop publically. 

Our overlap with Darling Downs West Moreton PHN pre-dates the establishment of the Primary Healthcare Networks, dating back to the Divisions of General Practice and Medicare Locals. 

Over the years we have delivered a range of content for health professionals in their catchment including wound closure, wound management, chronic disease care planning, ear health screening, and ear wax removal. More recently, we have worked closely with  Darling Downs West Moreton PHN who have supported several Registered Nurses to complete our HESA-accredited Immunisation course.

We regularly overlap and meet with representatives from each of the 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs) as well as State Health, Private Practice Groups, and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs). These engagements help inform content development, ensuring that the content that Benchmarque Group deliver is relevant to healthcare professionals across Australia. 

In one of these meetings with Darling Downs West Moreton PH, we shared some bespoke workshops we had delivered for another PHN in Queensland so when the need for Diabetes education in their catchment arose, they knew we would be capable of delivering great bespoke outcomes for their cohort in just a matter of months.

It has been a pleasure to work with the Darling Downs West Moreton PHN team and to have the opportunity to deliver this content for their cohort. We look forward to further collaborations with the PHN, and further opportunities with the PHN network nationally. 

As of October 2024, we currently have similar projects in the works with four other PHNs which will likely be made more broadly available in 2025. Our team thrive in this space and love working collaboratively with healthcare organisations and providers nationally.

While Diabetes Management had long been a commonly requested content area, it took a conversation with Darling Downs West Moreton Primary Health Network to spark the development of a course that is now available nationally. 

Increasingly this type of work is what is keeping the Benchmarque Group team busy - collaborative content builds to meet the learning needs of Australia’s healthcare workforce. We look forward to the launch of new courses in 2025!