A collaborative approach to diabetes management: the choice made for Colorado schools

Students with diabetes deserve a school nurse who can effectively manage the disease. Tensions between the school and families sometimes emerge when a child with diabetes goes to school. To resolve these tensions in Colorado, stakeholders collaborated to implement a statewide program to meet the needs of students with diabetes. Colorado school nursing leadership partnered with the National Association of School Nurses to adapt components of the Managing and Preventing Diabetes and Weight Gain Program (MAP), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Healthy Learner Model for Chronic Condition Management, integral to MAP, provided guidance for the Colorado Collaborative to design the Diabetes Resource Nurse Program. The program supports the practicing school nurse, and facilitates collaboration between the family, school, and health care provider. This article describes how stakeholders in Colorado chose to collaborate when faced with rising tensions over how to best manage students with diabetes.