Center for Diabetes Services

Inpatient Program

Our diabetes inpatient program provides treatment to people with diabetes and tracks their progress throughout their hospital stay. Winter Haven Hospital’s nursing staff is specially trained in diabetes care. All care providers at the hospital have access to state-of-the-art diabetes treatment protocols that are used to guide patient care.

Services include:

• Tracking of people with diabetes throughout their hospital stay to monitor blood glucose control.
• Treatment team of healthcare professionals including board-certified endocrinologists (doctors who specialize in the treatment of diabetes).
• Personal education by a diabetes resource nurse before going home.
• Monitoring and evaluation by an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner who is certified in Advanced Diabetes Management.
• Diabetes education focused on Survival Skills. Learning begins at the bedside during the hospital stay. Topics include:
• Diet
• Exercise
• Diabetes Medicines
• How to monitor blood glucose level
• How to recognize low blood sugar
• How to recognize high blood sugar
• Managing sick days

Ongoing education and follow-up are important for managing diabetes. Before discharge, the diabetes resource nurse talks with the patient and schedules an appointment with the certified diabetes educator in the outpatient program. After discharge, the diabetes resource nurse makes a follow-up call to the patient to answer any questions and offer advice.

Outpatient Education

Programs offered in the Center for Diabetes Education are designed to help people with diabetes and their families better understand diabetes and take charge of their health.

People with diabetes are responsible for 95% of their own care. It is important to receive ongoing diabetes education that is tailored to individual needs and offered by certified health professionals.

Proper management of diabetes can help people feel better, live a healthy life and reduce the risk of long term complications.

Services include:

• Individual visits with a certified diabetes educator and dietitian
• A three class series called Living with Diabetes. The classes focus on learning about self care. In this program, people learn to make changes and set personal goals for managing diabetes. The program requires a doctor’s referral.
• Several diabetes support groups meet at the hospital.
• Talks for community and worksite groups