The diabetes education study group and its activities to improve the education of people with diabetes in Europe

In this article the activities of the diabetes education study group (DESG) are presented. It is an important example of the coordination of the Europ ean patient education in the field of diabetes. Given the therapeutic role of patient education, doctors must be involved in the entire process, as me mbers of the multi-professional team, who carry the responsibility for the planning and implementation of the educational process. Based on these assu mptions, the DESG concentrated on the following activities: workshops, cong resses, teaching letters, a 5-min education kit, a web-sire, and a basic cu rriculum in therapeutic patient education. The future of therapeutic patien t education in the field of diabetes is discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.