This article contains information about earning a diabetes nursing degree and why you would want to do so. We also will provide helpful information about a quality online diabetes nursing degree that is worth considering.
What Is a Diabetes Nursing Degree?
Diabetes is a serious disease of the endorine system that requires the help of specialized nurses. A diabetes nursing degree can also be referred to at some universities as an endocrinology nurse. As people are aging and living longer lives, there is more need today for nursing professionals who hold a diabetes nursing degree.
A nurse with a diabetes degree will generally learn how to communicate with patients, doctors and family members about a patient’s diabetes. Many diabetes nurses with a degree in this field often become diabetes awareness advocates and eventually become diabetes educators.
A diabetes nursing degree typically is a master’s of science in nursing degree that is designed for the experienced nurse with at least an RN diploma or associate’s degree, or most often a bachelor of science in nursing.
A diabetes nursing degree provides you with the skills to educate patients with either prediabetes or diabetes to help them to make educated decisions about how to prevent or manage their condition. In your diabetes degree program in nursing, you will learn how to do most of the following:
- Learn how to work with diabetes patients to completely assess their needs to develop a diabetes treatment plan
- Provide diabetes patients with education that helps them to self manage their condition if possible
- Learn how to conduct evaluations to determine if they are meeting their goals and are able to keep their diabetes under control.
In a master’s in diabetes nursing program, you also will explore the advanced knowledge of diabetes that you will need to conduct effective psychosocial and physical assessments. In this way, you will become skilled in prioritizing the needs and problems of patients who suffer from diabetes.
Generally, you will need to already have your bachelor’s in nursing and have work experience in nursing to qualify for earning a master’s degree in diabetes nursing.
Why Earn a Diabetes Nursing Degree?
The American population is growing older, and fewer people are having large families. There will be millions more elderly people in the US in 30 years. As they are aging, we expect that there will be many more people seeking advanced healthcare services of all kinds.
The reason for this is that life expectancies are climbing into the 80s on average. People want to live a longer and more productive life and they are opting for more healthcare treatments to accomplish this.
This is why that there will be at least 2.3 million more healthcare jobs available in the US by 2024. This means that there will be a growth rate of 19% by 2024 in all healthcare jobs, which is very high. Many of these jobs will be nurses, and some of them will be diabetes nurses.
The nursing field itself is also experiencing very healthy growth; the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that registered nurses will experience a growth rate of 16% by 2024. It is anticipated that there will be more pressures on hospitals to discharge patients faster, and this is going to lead to more nurses being needed in long term care centers and outpatient care facilities. Many of these patients will be elderly and will need the help of diabetes nurses.
Also, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing is reporting that there will continue to be a shortage of nurses in many cities. This will likely be especially the case for highly trained nurses in areas such as diabetes.
The median pay for all registered nurses today is $68,450, and the top 10% earn more than $102,000. However, with a master’s degree in diabetes nursing, Salary.com reports that diabetes educators with a master’s degree earn an average salary of $75,023 per year.
Nurses who have a master’s degree in diabetes nursing will be able to work in some of the following positions with excellent pay:
- Head diabetes nurse
- Diabetes nurse specialist
- Nurse manager
- Diabetes nurse clinician
- Wellness program director
- Diabetes nurse educator
All of these aforementioned reasons make it clear why earning a degree in diabetes nursing can be a great investment in your future.
Online Degree Options
If you have earned a bachelor of science in nursing and you possess significant work experience, you may be ready to take the next step to earn a master of science in nursing with a speciality in diabetes nursing.
You will explore the highly advanced diabetes knowledge and skills that are necessary to do both physical and psychosocial assessments that are needed for proper diagnostics. You also will be able to prioritize the many needs and problems of your diabetes patients.
Further, you will work in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams to devise diabetes education plans and strategies that will help you to treat and manage diabetes in all ages of patients.
After you have earned your MSN, you can choose to get certified in certain aspects of diabetes care. There are certifications available called Board Certified Advanced Diabetes Management (BC-ADM), and Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). Both of these certifications are offered by the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Accreditation
Selecting a quality online nursing program is a very important part of your future career. A key to choosing a good nursing program is to ensure that it has been properly accredited by a respected nursing accreditation body.
Accreditation tells you that you are getting a high quality education in nursing, and that the program has been rigorously checked by experts for quality.
For nursing, you should look for accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or CCNE. CCNE accreditation means that you will be learning everything that you need to succeed in a clinical nursing career in diabetes care.
Summary
The field of diabetes nursing is definitely on the upswing as Americans are aging and living longer. You will be able to find plenty of excellent pay as a diabetes nurse or as a diabetes educator.
References
- Registered Nurses. (2015, Dec. 17). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm
- Diabetes Educator Salaries (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www1.salary.com/Diabetes-Educator-salaries.html
