Demystifying diabetes clinics

Ever wondered why your child is grouped into a specific diabetes clinic?

Liz Broad, Clinical Nurse Consultant at Perth Children’s Hospital’s Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, said clinics were firstly grouped as metropolitan (held at PCH), outer metro (Joondalup, Rockingham and Armadale) or regional (held at various regional centres) and then grouped by age (toddler, adolescent etc).

Clinics are held every three months and are multidisciplinary, meaning a social worker, dietitian, endocrinologist, and diabetes educator are in attendance.

“Four visits to a multidisciplinary team each year is considered ‘gold standard’ and vital to ensure optimal diabetes management; to facilitate complication screening; to adjust insulin for growth; and to ensure patients and families have all the information and support needed,” Ms Broad said.

“The clinics should provide an opportunity to discuss and recognise issues and strategies to help support you, your child and extended family.

“Clinics at PCH are booked on age-appropriate schedules so if you miss your clinic appointment, the next one will be in three months because you stay with your age-specific clinic.”

Ms Broad said out-of-clinic appointments could be arranged for patients who could not attend metropolitan clinics and had needs that could not wait for their next scheduled clinic.

“If you cannot attend your appointment, firstly, ring and let us know, and secondly, consider if you need scripts or anything else of that nature because even though you may not be present at clinic, we can do a chart review for your child and provide scripts which can then be mailed out,” she said.

“If you would still like to be seen by an educator and have your child’s height, weight and HbA1c done, we can arrange an out-of-clinic appointment.

“Out-of-clinic appointments are normally organised on the same day as the patient’s clinic would normally have been held at PCH so that members of the treating clinical team may be available.”

Demystifying clinics

• Regional clinics operate all-ages or age-specific clinics depending on the location. 
• Clinic held at PCH on Mondays and Fridays are grouped by age.
• Adolescent clinics are held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at PCH.
• Monday clinics feed into Tuesday — and Friday to Thursday — as the patients get older.
• Clinics held early in the year tend to focus on diabetes school management plans and school requirements (see Diabetes in Schools for more information).
• The concept of transitioning to adult services is introduced from around age 14 to ensure adolescents have the knowledge and appropriate skills to transition to adult services.
• If your child requires documentation for a driver’s licence application, please note that the doctor needs to see the patient.
• The Diabetes Clinic is finalising specific clinic brochures for patients. They will contain treating clinical team members names and photos, 2021 clinic dates and contact information.