Professor’s Education Flyer on Diabetes Prevention Published
Adelaide Durkin, DNP, Associate Professor of Nursing, is trained as a cardiac nurse. When she started her career, she says her work didn’t include the consideration that heart disease is preventable or can be reversed. As her studies progressed, she became curious about the fact that healthcare providers don’t focus more on prevention and understanding the root of a disease.
During her graduate work, she decided to pursue this focus on prevention and holistic health further. She went to lifestyle centers and experienced patients doing work to reverse diabetes and heart disease, especially through diet. Durkin says, “From then on, I promised myself I would only do doctoral work with an emphasis on lifestyle medicine.”
For her doctoral practicum work, she connected with a friend who runs a diabetes clinic for Native Americans in California. She told Durkin it would be beneficial to have a flyer easily explaining lifestyle changes patients can incorporate to prevent diabetes. She wanted it to be informational but accessible and visual for them and clinicians to center their conversations on certain points that weren’t overwhelming.
Encouraged by the usefulness of the flyer at the Native American clinic, Durkin decided to share more of her work with a larger audience. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) where healthcare professionals share research-based information that addresses the root causes of diseases and prevention of illness.
As Dr. Durkin looked at the resources on the ACLM website, she says, “They had a lot of free resources on the pillars of health, but they offered nothing regarding the prevention of diabetes.” She began the work of expanding the flyer to include evidence-based information, literature, and references, so the ACLM could offer it on their website. They agreed it was a much-needed piece of research.
She collaborated with a dietitian to build on her previous work for the flyer. It was then peer-reviewed by ACLM faculty who teach a Reversing Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance course, accepted, and published in August of 2022.
Dr. Durkin hopes healthcare providers take advantage of free resources such as those provided by ACLM, especially students who are learning how to holistically treat patients and remember to focus on the root of the cause and prevention. She encourages everyone at Kettering College to create an account on the ACLM site to continue gaining information.
By pursuing her interest in holistic healthcare, Dr. Durkin has shared her knowledge and passion with two vital audiences: patients who need guidance, and healthcare professionals who are guiding patients. We applaud her work and congratulate her on her diligent research and commitment to sharing helpful tools to the public.
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About Kettering College
Kettering College is a fully accredited, coeducational college that specializes in health science education. A division of Kettering Health, the College is located on the Kettering Health Main campus in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, and is chartered by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Kettering College offers an Occupational Therapy Doctoral program, a Master of Physician Assistant, Bachelor and Associate of Science degrees, and certificate programs.