This
week I attended the Diabetes UK Professional Conference which was held in Manchester. I was invited there as a
member of the Diabetes UK Young Leaders Action Group to give a talk about
social media and how it has helped me change my diabetes for the better. I was
also there as Ninjabetic (a diabetes advocate) and as myself (someone who’s
fast approaching 11 years with Type 1 diabetes).
I
had two intentions while I was at the conference:
Firstly
I wanted to get across the message that social media has been the most powerful
tool in getting me on track with my diabetes.
Secondly
I wanted to gain an insight into the professional world of diabetes, to hear
what happens in meetings, behind closed doors and away from the patients.
The
latter was very easy to do as no one knew that I was a patient, other than the
few who recognised me from twitter pictures. I sat in talks about depression
and best practice; I listened to speeches that included research, data analysis, trials
and studies… The majority of it was new to me, and the majority of it impressed
me.
Because
so much information is kept away from the patients it was a real eye opener to
sit and listen to consultants, nurses and managers talking about the issues
that are discussed by patients on social media every day. Being able to listen
to health care professionals was an inspiring and captivating experience. It
was also very motivating to find that there was the same passion behind their
voices as I read in people’s tweets or Facebook comments. There was a lot of
willing to think outside the box and to reach outside of the comfort zone. I
learnt a great deal from this side of the conference & I feel that other
patients would greatly benefit from experiencing similar.
When
it came to my talk about social media I knew that it would be very different to
the talks that had been given throughout the rest of the conference. I started
by saying that I didn’t have fancy statistics and charts, that I didn’t have
any data or tables to prove that social media has helped me. The only evidence
that I had was right there in front of them... it was me.
A
few minutes before the talk I’d bumped into my old consultant who had looked
after me through my nine non-compliant years. As I looked around the crowd I
saw him sat quietly in the audience listening to everything that was being
said, and it was a comfort to know that he was there to support me and to see how far I’d come.
I
explained my journey and referred to the destructive years that I’d
had prior to taking care of my diabetes. I explained what Ninjabetic was and
what the Diabetes Online Community gave to myself and others. I finished by saying
that one simple suggestion to start using social media to interact with others
could be the turning point for patients. I wanted to emphasise that this free
tool could help patients engage with their diabetes and be a huge benefit
to their management.
I’d
like to think that I was able to reach a few of the people who were sat in the
audience, that I may have left an impression on those HCPs that I didn't know. If
only one of them suggests the use of social media to a patient then I would
know that I’d done a good job that day.
I
admit that the support I had from the Diabetes Online Community before during
and after the talk was overwhelming compared to the response from the audience.
If I’d received anywhere near the reaction or support from the audience that I
had from the patients and carers on twitter then maybe I wouldn’t have felt so
disheartened when the talk was over.
So
what did I personally take away from the whole experience? Positives and
negatives... as I’d expected.
The
same conversations are happening… conversations that excite us and spark debate
amongst us! Conversations that could lead to great things for the future of
diabetes care. However what stood out the most for me is that both patients and
Health Care Professionals are discussing the same topics… they just aren’t
coming together to do so in the way that they should be.
Communication is key.
Ninjabetic