By Mia Fisher-Howe on December 7, 2022
At Spirit Health, we offer a QISMET accredited structured diabetes education service called EMPOWER. This four-hour course teaches what Type 2 diabetes is and the effect it has on the body. Plus, it covers how to make small, achievable changes to what participants eat and their everyday life.
To follow our mission of making healthcare easy and accessible for all, it has been crucial to make sure that our education services are in several formats. So, our EMPOWER services are available in four different options:
- EMPOWER Local – Face to face education delivered by a trained educator in a local community venue.
- EMPOWER Video – Face to face education delivered by a trained educator through video conferencing software e.g. Teams.
- EMPOWER Digital – Self-directed learning delivered through a digital platform.
- EMPOWER Solo – Specialist one to one tuition delivered by a trained educator.
“The programme was very informative and presented in a way that made it easy to understand.”
John, Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB
We are thrilled to say that alongside our in-person and virtual courses, our self-directed digital course is now fully QISMET (Quality Institute for Self-Management Education and Training) accredited. QISMET is an independent body that was created in 2008. This was made because of the shared recognition of self-management provider organisations. They all agreed that a good quality benchmark for quality assurance is essential to secure the quality and consistency of service provisions.
QISMET provides accreditation of self-management education interventions against two best practice Quality Standards: QIS 2020 and SS2Q (ours is against QIS 2020). It therefore sets expectations for the highest possible quality service for people living with long-term health conditions such as diabetes.
Karrie Wallace, Education Services Clinical Lead, comments:
“I am delighted to announce that our ‘new and improved’ EMPOWER digital programme has been given QISMET accreditation status. Our face to face and online Teams courses achieved accreditation status a few years ago and it is brilliant news that our digital programme has now followed in the same footsteps. I’m so proud to be part of a team that provides such high-quality services that empowers people to take control of their own health.
We recognise structured diabetes education services are especially critical for communities with limited resources and populations that have higher rates of diabetes and higher risk of complications. That’s why here at Spirit, we put in the effort to reach populations that have barriers to health care access, as everyone has the right to an education to build a prosperous, healthy, and equitable life.”
Learn more about EMPOWER on our website.
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