Client education for diabetes

In honor of National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month, Jessica Pritchard, VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM), clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, interviewed with dvm360 to share her tips on having a conversation with clients about their pet's recent diabetes diagnosis.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Jessica Pritchard, VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM): I would say some of the best tips that I have or to work with the great resources that are already out there. So the AAHA guidelines, for example, have really lovely videos on how to give insulin for both dogs and cats.

I also try and always find out what the client knows about diabetes already, and work with them. So it'll ask if they know a diabetic or have known a diabetic in their life before, that way I can front run some of what their expectations might be about how diabetes is managed up front and talk to them about how they already have a great bit of knowledge about diabetes and [mention that] what we do in pets is a little bit different.