A recent study was published with some disturbing news about the glucose control practices of many academic medical centers. The research involved 103 academic centers and 119 hospitals and revealed that there was “wide variation in performance of the recommended hospital diabetes care measures.” It was found that many of these institutions are not meeting the current standards of diabetes care established by the American Diabetes Association.

 What does that mean for you? We put our confidence in the medical professionals we choose to provide the best and most current treatment for diabetes care. And rightly so. But the point that we find most important about the results of this study is this: we must be our own advocates. Diabetes is a labor-intensive condition. That is stating the obvious if you’ve lived with it for any length of time. What is not as obvious to many with type 1 is that we must be constantly involved in educating ourselves about diabetes in order to make sound decisions about our own care on a day to day basis. We also need to work from an educated position so we can discuss our care thoroughly with the members of our diabetes healthcare team.

 A good starting point would be to read the articles on the basics of diabetes followed by the causes, symptoms and diagnosis of diabetes.

 After you read those articles, check out the American Diabetes Association’s Executive Summary of the 2008 Standards of Diabetes Care. This document will give you a comprehensive look at the standards we should all be striving for.