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• Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility Requirements

The Certification Examination for Diabetes Educators ("Examination") is designed and intended solely for health care professionals who have defined roles as diabetes educators, not for those who may perform some diabetes related functions as part of or in the course of other usual and customary duties (See Definition of DSME).

Eligibility Requirements for Initial Certification 2008

Individuals who have not previously taken or passed the Examination or whose CDE credentials lapsed prior to 12/31/2007 must meet the requirements.

To qualify for the Examination, the following requirements must be met at the time of application and Examination:

1. Discipline
   1. Clinical psychologist, registered nurse, occupational therapist, optometrist, pharmacist, physical therapist, physician (M.D. or D.O.), or podiatrist holding a current, active, unrestricted license from the United States or its territories.

      OR

   2. Dietitian holding active registration with the Commission on Dietetic Registration, physician assistant holding active registration with the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, or exercise physiologist holding active certification as an American College of Sports Medicine Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist® (minimum of a master's degree).

      OR

   3. Health care professional with a minimum of a master's degree in social work from a United States college or university accredited by a nationally recognized regional accrediting body.

      OR

   4. Health care professional with a minimum of a master's degree in nutrition, health education, or specified areas of public health from a United States college or university accredited by a nationally recognized regional accrediting body.*

      *Eligibility on the basis of an advanced degree in nutrition, health education, or public health is no longer available, except those qualifying degrees that were completed and conferred by the degree granting institution by the end of 2005, provided that the required professional practice experience requirements in diabetes self-management education is also completed and an Application submitted no later than 5 years after the degree was conferred.

      Advanced degrees in public health must be in an area of concentration specific to health education, health promotion, health and social behavior, or health communication. A degree in any other track or concentration, including administration, health policy, epidemiology, biostatistics, or population studies, is not accepted. To verify the program of study specific to the acceptable areas of concentration, an official transcript that indicates that an advanced degree was awarded and the area of concentration must be submitted with the Application for the Examination.

      NOTE: Individuals who meet either A. or B. and C. or D. (above) must apply under A. current license or B. current license/registration.

2. Professional Practice Experience
   All professional practice experience is defined as employment for compensation as a diabetes educator in the United States or its territories within the past five years. Employment for compensation means to hold a job in which one is actively engaged in diabetes self-management education and for which paid income is comparable to other diabetes educators in the same area or region of the country. Only experience occurring AFTER completing the Discipline requirement can be counted toward the Professional Practice Experience requirement.

   After meeting the Discipline requirement and before applying for the Examination, all (A through C) of the following requirements must be met:

   1. A minimum of two years (to the day) of professional practice experience in diabetes self-management education.

      AND

   2. A minimum of 1,000 hours of diabetes self-management education experience.

      AND

   3. Current employment in a defined diabetes educator role providing diabetes self-management education a minimum of four hours per week, or its equivalent, at the time of application.
3. Application Fee(s) Payment