Diabetes Day Program

The Diabetes Day Program (DDP) is a dedicated area within the Medical Day Unit (MDU) of BC Children's Hospital which is designed for initial outpatient management and teaching of children who have recently been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

See also our handout Diabetes Day Program at BCCH.

Your first appointment
Where is the Diabetes Day Program located?
What happens on the first day?
What will we be taught during our stay?
Who should come to the teaching sessions?
What should I bring to the first visit?
What happens after my child is discharged?
Can I see a social worker?
Where can I find information about travel assistance, flights and accommodation?
What are the follow-up diabetes clinic visits like?

Your first appointment (top)

Many children are diagnosed with diabetes and are stabilized at their local hospital by their family physician or pediatrician before they are referred to the program for diabetes teaching. Other children come to the program after having been diagnosed in our Emergency Room, or after a brief hospitalization at BC Children's Hospital.

If your child has been in contact with any infectious diseases (e.g. chicken pox or measles) during the three weeks before this visit, please inform us as soon as possible, as your child may need to be isolated from other children on the Medical Day Unit.

If your child requires a blood test and is scared of needles, EMLA® or Ametop™, effective topical anesthetics when applied 1–2 hours prior to the "needle poke", can be used. Ask the nurse or doctor about this when you arrive.

Where is the Diabetes Day Program located? (top)

British Columbia's Children's Hospital
4480 Oak Street, Room 2C25
(inside the Medical Day Unit, 2nd floor of the hospital, follow the signs from the elevators or stairs to MDU)
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4 Canada
MDU Phone: 604-875-3680
MDU FAX: 604-875-2098
Diabetes Clinic Phone: 604-875-2868
Diabetes Clinic Fax: 604-875-3231

Click here for a map to our hospital.

What happens on the first day? (top)

You will be asked to bring your child to the Program at 8:00 AM, before eating breakfast. After a brief check-in with the Medical Day Unit staff, your child will have a fingerpoke done to measure the blood sugar, and then he or she will receive an injection of insulin and be given breakfast.

While your child is on the program, he or she will receive all the meals and snacks from the hospital. Each teaching day begins before breakfast (8:00 a.m.) and ends after your child has eaten dinner (about 5:30 p.m.). At the end of each day, you will be able to go home for the evening.

We are happy to provide families from out of town with some suggestions for local accommodations (see below). You will be given the 24-hour emergency pager number of the endocrinologist-on-call, as well as instructions about how to deal with urgent questions or emergencies during these first days.

The initial teaching for a newly diagnosed family generally takes 3–4 days to complete. Plan on staying at the hospital for at least 9 hours each day. We are happy to provide letters for employers and schools to document the need for time away from work or school.

What will we be taught during our stay? (top)

After breakfast on the first day, the formal teaching process will begin. We have a team approach to providing care and teaching to children and families. You will meet several members of the diabetes team:

clerical staff to book appointments
diabetes nurse educators to provide the formal part of the diabetes teaching
Medical Day Unit nurses who will assist families with performing fingerpokes and injections
diabetes dietitians to discuss the diabetic meal plan
a social worker/counsellor who can assist you in coping with the stresses of your child's new diagnosis, and in searching for local accommodations and other helpful resources
physicians who are specialists in childhood diabetes (pediatric endocrinologists)
because BC Children's Hospital is a teaching hospital, you may also meet doctors-in-training (pediatric residents, endocrinology fellows and medical students), dietitian interns and student nurses

During your time on the program, the Diabetes Nurse Educator will teach your family about:

our current understanding of how diabetes happens
how to do fingerpokes to measure the blood sugar
the symptoms and treatment of high and low blood sugars
how to give insulin injections
how to manage the diabetes when your child is active
how to manage the diabetes when your child is sick

Our Diabetes Dietitian will take a detailed history of your child's eating habits. She will provide your child with an individualized diabetes meal plan, using the food choices of the Good Health Eating Guide Resource from the Canadian Diabetes Association. She will also teach you about healthy nutrition, food-label reading, food substitutions and dealing with special occasions (such as birthday parties).

We will provide all of the contact numbers, educational materials and medical supplies that you need for the first week or so, as well as prescriptions for the ongoing diabetes supplies you will need once you are home. All of these handouts are also available on our website.

Who should come to the teaching sessions? (top)

All primary caregivers of a newly diagnosed child should attend the teaching sessions, as they will provide the diabetes care after discharge. As well, older brothers and sisters, foster parents, and grandparents who care for the child should attend. If at all possible, please leave younger siblings who would not benefit by coming at home or with a sitter, or arrange for a family member to look after them at the hospital. Please note that we do NOT have daycare or babysitting services available while on the program, and it can be quite disruptive for parents to have to look after smaller children while they are trying to learn about their child's diabetes.

What should I bring to the first visit? (top)

It is important to your child to make this visit as informative as possible, so the adult(s) who come with him or her should have the best knowledge of the patient's history.

Please bring the following to your visit:

your BC CareCard
your blue BC Children's Hospital hospital card (if you have one)
any blood glucose meter, logbook, insulin or diabetes supplies your local hospital has provided you
any written information or hospital records about your child's diagnosis that your family doctor or pediatrician has prepared for our endocrinologists

Please note that we do not provide meals or snacks for parents or siblings. The hospital has several places to purchase food and refreshments, and we are happy to direct you to them.

What happens after my child is discharged? (top)

After you are discharged, you will be asked to phone the endocrinologist-on-call every evening before dinner. They will take down your child's blood sugar readings for the previous day, and they will provide you with insulin doses for the next 24 hours. They will also be able to answer any questions you may have about your child's diabetes care. After a period of about 3–4 weeks, once the blood sugar readings and the insulin doses have stabilized, we will "graduate" your child from daily phone calls with the endocrinologist to weekly phone calls, faxes or e-mails with the Diabetes Clinic nurses.

A detailed report of your child's assessment will be sent to your referring doctor, and to other health professionals at your request. Freedom of Information requests are managed by BC Children's Hospital Records Management & Patient Registration.

Can I see a social worker? (top)

Many of our patients or parents would like to see the social worker/counsellor on the first visit. If this is the case, please call us so that we can book an appointment when you are here.

Where can I find information about travel assistance, travel and accommodation? (top)

For information about the travel assistance plan, please go to out-of-town families. You can also find information about travel, accommodation and other resources.

What are the follow-up Diabetes Clinic visits like? (top)

Before your child is discharged from the Diabetes Day Program, you will receive an appointment for a follow-up visit to the Diabetes Clinic, generally within 1–2 months time. After that, we see most patients every 6–12 months in the clinic, depending on your child's age, how far away you live, and your doctor's wishes.

Follow-up visits are shorter, about 2 hours to see everyone and go to the lab if necessary.

Please let us know your questions and any way we can make this visit more comfortable for you.

Page Last Updated: 13 June 2009

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