The factors that limit activities of certified diabetes educators in Japan: a questionnaire survey

BACKGROUND: The certified diabetes educator (CDE) is a qualification awarded to health professionals with specialized knowledge, skills, and experiences in diabetes management and education. To clarify whether CDEs consider themselves to be working sufficiently, in other words, making sufficient use of their specialized skills or not, a questionnaire survey was conducted. The participants were persons involved in diabetes-related educational seminars and medical personnel engaged in diabetes care at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine. They were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding self -perception of CDE’s activities and to describe the reasons for their answers. FINDINGS: Fewer than 40% of the responding CDEs in each of the professions surveyed were satisfied with the current state of their activities and contributions as a CDE. For CDEs, “lack of labor” is the most concerning issue that limits their satisfactory activities as CDEs, followed by “condition of facilities”. Other factors such as insufficient “interprofessional teamwork”, “limited personal ability”, “mismatched allocation”, and “low recognition for CDEs” also limited their activities. CONCLUSION: Many CDEs perceived they are not working sufficiently. Further efforts should be made to support CDEs to improve their working conditions.