Factors Related to Diabetes Educator Training and Credentialling to Meet the Needs of Rural and Remote Australians

OBJECTIVE: With the burden of diabetes rising in Australia, it is important to understand the challenges for rurally based health practitioners to achieve credentialling as a diabetes educator. SETTING: This is particularly relevant in rural and remote Australia with the shortage of credentialled diabetes educators and the great burden of disease. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were credentialled diabetes educators (25), health practitioners in the process of credentialling (5), health practitioners who did not complete credentialling (7), and diabetes education academics teaching the qualification required before credentialling (9). DESIGN: Using qualitative research methods, relevant practitioners involved in credentialling were interviewed. The interviews explored hurdles for rural-based diabetes educators in achieving credentialling given the required clinical hours and the absence of available local mentors. Interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis followed established methods to ensure research rigour. RESULTS: Participants described challenges, highlighting an inequitable credentialling process for rural health practitioners. Issues included the inadequacy of material explaining the credentialling process at the time of enrolment, challenges finding mentorship support and gaining sufficient clinical experience for credentialling in a rural context, issues with recording credentialling activities, challenges with distance, and finding available jobs due to the ambiguous scope of practice of credentialled diabetes educators, particularly for allied health professionals. CONCLUSION: The findings inform potential improvements for diabetes educator credentialling and offer insights into how processes could be improved to support development of a strengthened rural and remote-based diabetes educator workforce.