Guiding Principles for Diabetes Care: For Health Care Professionals

This evidence-based booklet outlines important patient-centered principles of diabetes care, helping health care professionals identify people with pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes for treatment aimed at preventing long-term complications.

These Guiding Principles for Diabetes Care: For Health Care Professionals provide an overview of the key elements of early and intensive clinical diabetes care and prevention. They form the basis of the National Diabetes Education Program’s (NDEP’s) public and professional awareness programs. The principles are based on the best level of evidence available, and key sources are noted. The NDEP adopts guidelines developed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and many have been incorporated into these guiding principles. Numerous other guidelines are available and some are noted in this document. It is essential that in practice, health care professionals focus on the similarities rather than the differences in diabetes-related guidelines. This document also provides links to supporting resources and further information.