A conversation about health literacy with Lorna Bingham, Diabetes Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner candidate, Capital & Coast District Health Board

I had a conversation about health literacy with Lorna Bingham, Diabetes Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner candidate, Capital & Coast District Health Board.

Lorna says that her goal for her patients is that they have the confidence and competence to manage their daily lives while living well with diabetes.

She assures them that they will be able to master the skills to do the daily tasks of diabetes and she supports them until they can.

Health literacy’s role in living well
Diabetes is a complex, long-term condition. It takes its toll over time, so protecting yourself and preventing complications is important.

Living with a long-term condition has two parts — managing the tasks of living well in your daily life, and managing the whole spectrum of your life.

To live well with diabetes requires good health literacy — to understand what diabetes is, what you have to do to take care of your body, and why that’s important.

Small steps every day and good conversations
Diabetes requires people’s attention every day. To support people in their daily tasks, Lorna teaches them about insulin and how to manage their medicines; she teaches them how to recognise problems early so the problems don’t become complications, how to solve them and, of course, how to live well with diabetes.

Lorna develops the health literacy of her patients by normalising the daily tasks of living with diabetes  — testing blood sugar levels, self-injecting, and balancing exercise and diet — and by supporting people while they practise. ‘ It’s important to normalise the daily tasks,’ Lorna says, ‘so that people know how to manage the problems that develop from time to time in any long-term condition.’

It takes time and practice to develop the knowledge, confidence, and competence to manage all aspects of diabetes in your daily life. Lorna believes that given adequate support most people with diabetes can manage most tasks well, most of the time.  It’s a matter of taking small steps, talking and waiting, drawing diagrams, and talking and waiting — and keeping the conversation going.


by Rosie Knight