How diabetes educator Marie makes a difference for patients with nexuzhealth consult

Never before has Belgium seen so many diabetes patients. Over the last decade, the number of diagnoses has increased by 30%. It is also the fastest-growing disease worldwide. Marie is a diabetes educator who teaches patients how to manage their disease. “Informing and counselling people properly about their condition is crucial. I’m actually making a difference thanks to medical record access via nexuzhealth consult. Both for myself and patients.”

Marie knows what she is talking about. She has worked as an independent home care nurse for years and today also works as a diabetes educator. She really understands how important knowledge and information sharing are within her field. “When I first heard about nexuzhealth consult, I saw the possibilities immediately. Especially when it came to diabetes education. In the past, I always had to rely on patient input.

And that has inherent risks. For instance, without lab results, I could not know the HbA1c value. (This value indicates the percentage of red blood cells to which glucose is attached, and therefore reflects the average glucose level over the preceding 2-3 months). This usually meant advice was limited to a prescription. Very occasionally, I received a referral letter with some additional information, but that varied from doctor to doctor.”

Better basis

Using nexuzhealth consult helps Marie provide better counselling. “I deliberately don’t say ‘more efficient’ as that refers to saving time. But the info I get from the system does mean I can spend more time advising my patients. And that for me is the added value. My preparation used to mean just reviewing the previous report.

But now, an hour before my appointment, I review their medical records and care pathway. Were there any new exam results since our last appointment? Did the patient pass their endocrinology test? And was a blood test performed?

Trust me, that makes a huge difference. As soon as the patient arrives, you start the consult on a completely different basis. My first question was – and still is – always: ‘How are you doing?’ It’s now much easier to assess their answer. Because my preparation allows me to check on their medical status. Recently, I visited with a patient who had had a stroke shortly beforehand. I let him know right away I knew about it, so he only had to tell me what was really on his mind. And no more repeating the same old same old. You can get straight to the point. So that’s actually a bit of a time saver (laughs).”

A pat on the back

According to Marie, a well-informed nurse also puts the patient more at ease. “Patients like it when you show you’re involved in their case. Even when things are going well. Just this week, I visited a patient who had a HbA1c value of 7.6 at our first appointment 15 months ago. During my usual preparation, I saw that it had dropped below 7. I congratulated her even before she could get comfortably seated. You should have seen her beaming! And at the same time, I could now be proactive and ask her about what steps she took to get that outcome. It turns out, she had simply followed my advice. Lovely, right? So nexuzhealth is a definite win for me also in terms of personal satisfaction.

Knowledge is preparation 

Interestingly, many patients consider transmural communication to be completely logical. “People used to be quite surprised when they learned that I didn’t know their pre-treatment or medication regimen. They assumed a health care professional like myself already knew their case history. Now, nexuzhealth consult means I meet that expectation. It also makes me more confident. Especially when you can anticipate particular situations.

For instance, I recently asked a patient when he had to see the endocrinologist again. He replied that the specialist would call him. I immediately knew something was wrong and checked the data in nexuzhealth consult. So, what was going on? No appointment was scheduled and the previous one was almost a year and a half ago. He had five days left before all his patient rights expired. So, I immediately made an appointment for him, which kept him current within his care path.

Without nexuzhealth consult, I might have relied on his answer and found myself dealing with his health problems with lots of administrative and financial problems.”  

Like a pro!

The advantages of nexuzhealth consult make Marie want more. “It’s unfortunate that today as a home nurse and diabetes educator we can’t write reports, just notes. Right now, sharing information with a GP goes through other channels. I think this is where you encounter the real limits of the system’s efficiency and professionalisation.

But I’ve just learned that nexuzhealth pro nurse has some new features coming up. So, besides a report function, there could also be a feature to send medication suggestions to the GP. This evolution confirms my positive first impression during that awareness training, and today made me even more eager to continue working with nexuzhealth consult in the future.”

As a professional care provider, do you also need access to your patient files? Request your account today.