title: The Diabetes Initiative of South Carolina Celebrates Over 20 Years of Professional Diabetes Education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diabetes is a major public health problem in South Carolina; however, the Diabetes Initiative of South Carolina (DSC) provides a realistic mechanism to address issues on a statewide basis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Diabetes Center of Excellence in the DSC provides oversight for developing and supervising professional education programs for health care workers of all types in South Carolina to increase their knowledge and ability to care for people with diabetes. The DSC has developed many programs for the education of a variety of health professionals about diabetes and its complications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The DSC has sponsored 21 Annual Diabetes Fall Symposia for primary health care professionals featuring education regarding many aspects of diabetes mellitus. The intent of the program is to enhance the lifelong learning process of physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, laboratorians and other health care professionals, by providing educational opportunities and to advance the quality and safety of patient care. The symposium is an annual 2-day statewide program that supplies both a comprehensive diabetes management update to all primary care professionals and an opportunity for attendees to obtain continuing education credits at a low cost.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overarching goal of the DSC is that the programs it sponsors and the development of new targeted initiatives will lead to continuous improvements in the care of people at risk and with diabetes along with a decrease in morbidity, mortality and costs of diabetes and its complications in South Carolina and elsewhere.
authors.affiliation: Quality Department and the Division of Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson Veteran׳s Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina. Electronic address: hermayer@musc.edu.
authors.forename: Kathie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hermayer
mesh_terms: D003226:Congresses as Topic / Q000639:trends; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Education; Program; South Carolina; Symposium