Maintenance of Certified Diabetes Educator Status by Portfolio: Evidence for Accessibility, Relevance, Validity and Sustainability

ABSTRACT PURPOSE To evaluate a credit portfolio process for accessibility, relevance, validity and sustainability, and provide evidence for credit requirements for certification maintenance. METHODS Certified diabetes educators (CDEs) who had recertified by examination from 2001 to 2003 were invited to participate. CDEs completed a satisfaction survey and recorded retrospectively credited learning activities over 2 years. Participants were asked to describe the learning activity, identify the learning category and credits allocated, relate the activity to CDE competencies, review the activity definition/documentation requirements and make suggestions for improvement. RESULTS Seventy-four of 266 CDEs responded (28%). CDEs engaged in an average of 92 (± 40) credits of professional development activities per year. Registered nurses (RNs) and registered dietitians (RDs) participated equally in a wide variety of activities. Nurses earned a significantly greater number of credits: 224.8 for RNs and 157.4 for RDs (p CONCLUSIONS CDEs engage in a wide variety of professional development activities and can provide evidence of this when requested. This study supports a requirement of 250 credits over 5 years for certification maintenance.