DAFNE - in person or remote?

[janedent]

Hi
I punched the air yesterday when I got the email offering me a place on a DAFNE course in January. The downside (to me) was that it's a remote course and I'm an in-person person. I'm wondering whether to wait for a face to face course (if there is one - I will enquire).
I realise nobody on this forum will have done both courses to make a comparison, but does anyone have any experience and opinion of the remote course?

 

[Daisycoo]

I did the remote one instead of in person. It was pretty straight forward and finished it in a couple of hours.

 

[helli]

I think it depends what you want to get out of the course and how interactive the remote course is.
For be, by far, the biggest value from the course was meeting and talking to other people with Type 1.
It was a huge eye opener for me to understand for real (rather than the "stories" you can read online) the impact diabetes can have on your life, especially if you are unable to manage it.
If the remote course is interactive and the trainers are good, you should still be able to get these insights, have great discussions and break out sessions in small groups.
However, if the course is an "online course" where you watch videos, read documents and then have a "zoom meeting" to discuss any questions for 30 minutes, I would get little out of it.
But then, I am someone who would read everything I can find beforehand.

I think it is worth talking to your team/DSN to understand what the remote course involves and how long you need to wait for a face to face.

(I hope things have changed but I had to wait 12 years to get on the course and would have taken a remote one if I knew that.)

 

[goodybags]

although not a DAFNE course
I hate all remote courses meetings & training that’s delivered online, the company I work for does virtually everything on teams, I find it so hard to follow, I’m an in-person, person to (I like that saying)

 

[Deb_l]

Not the DAFNE course, but I did the X-PERT Type 2 course via Teams and it was good. I had the option of face to face but adding travelling time onto the course time during the work week just wasn't practical. We do at least 90% of our work meetings via Teams these days so it's something I'm comfortable with.

There was plenty of opportunity to interact with the other attendees, as well as the presenters. It was an excellent course but very disappointing to see that out of the ten people invited, only four of us regularly showed up!

As @helli has said, if it was a self-directed learning course, I'm not so sure I would have completed it. I'm pretty poor at having the discipline to attend those things.

 

[Elena_L]

I did the Dafne in person a few years ago and it was very helpful. But, honestly, I think remote learning would be just as effective in terms of learning - the main benefit of the in-person version was meeting some other type 1s and hearing about their experiences. It also sounds like the remote version is much more efficient and quick!

 

[rayray119]

Hi
I punched the air yesterday when I got the email offering me a place on a DAFNE course in January. The downside (to me) was that it's a remote course and I'm an in-person person. I'm wondering whether to wait for a face to face course (if there is one - I will enquire).
I realise nobody on this forum will have done both courses to make a comparison, but does anyone have any experience and opinion of the remote course?

You meant find that they won't make it face to face again I don't think my hospital ever plan too. I did it remote

 

[rayray119]

Just to say the remote course isn't a self fit directed course well not in my case any we had weekly video meetings as a group.

 

[Tdm]

I did the in person one over a week.
To be honest, by the time i did it i had pretty much the whole thing pinned down.
I was encourage to go from 2 basal to no basal, which wasn't the right move for me. I wasn't convinced but did it because i didn't want to be a 'know it all' and disregard input.
I'm not sure you would get the same benefit from anything more intense as part of it was the dsn reviewing results and suggesting changes (which didn't work for me but did for the others).
I had some issues with the course...the use of 'carb points' just confused things and seemed out of date
I, personally, got little out of my course. Mainly did it in case i needed it to to get pump later.

I would deffo recommend it if you don't feel confident in carb counting/diabetes management, or need to improve control

 

[JJay]

Actually I did do both, thanks to Covid! This wasn't the actual DAFNE but a local version thereof, designed to run over 4 weekly sessions. We managed 2 before lockdown struck. It was resurrected as a remote course (via Microsoft Teams) a year later.

I infinitely preferred the in person sessions - I felt I was getting to know everyone better and there no distractions caused by the technology! I found it easier to ask questions and contribute to discussion, too.

However, if remote turns out to be your only option, do go for it - you will still get a lot out of it.

 

[Inka]

I haven’t done DAFNE at all. My advice would be to think what you want out of the course in a very specific way, ie write things down. You might find you can access those things elsewhere, or you might find that some of the things you want will come naturally to you with experience. That will help you decide whether you want to do it in January or whether you’d prefer to wait for an in-person course.

IMO DAFNE unnecessarily overcomplicates what’s a fairly simple process, and can cause confusion as @Tdm suggested. So, weigh up your needs and how strongly you’d prefer in-person, then make your decision.

 

[helli]

I haven’t done DAFNE at all. My advice would be to think what you want out of the course in a very specific way, ie write things down. You might find you can access those things elsewhere, or you might find that some of the things you want will come naturally to you with experience. That will help you decide whether you want to do it in January or whether you’d prefer to wait for an in-person course.

IMO DAFNE unnecessarily overcomplicates what’s a fairly simple process, and can cause confusion as @Tdm suggested. So, weigh up your needs and how strongly you’d prefer in-person, then make your decision.

I definitely agree with working out what you want from DAFNE as it varies from person to person.
But remember, it may be a prerequisite for access to some technology - the only reason I attended the local DAFNE equivalent was to get a pump. This may not be the case everywhere but something to consider.

 

[Inka]

I’m sure they’re not allowed to use that as the criterion @helli It says something about being able to carb count competently, but they can’t compel attendance to a specific course IMO.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

It says something about being able to carb count competently, but they can’t compel attendance to a specific course IMO.

No, but doing the one that you've been offered by your local team is still likely to be a benefit, regardless of whether it's supposed to be considered or not.

 

[Inka]

No, but doing the one that you've been offered by your local team is still likely to be a benefit, regardless of whether it's supposed to be considered or not.

A benefit to the individual, or a help to get a pump? I’d query both of those.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

A benefit to the individual, or a help to get a pump? I’d query both of those.

The latter, mostly. It's a way to formally show you've got some basic understanding of carb counting and all the other stuff the course teaches. There are other ways to do the same thing: BERTIE online, MyType1diabetes, etc. Those are likely to work just as well. Doing such a course (and being able to show you've done it) is likely to be helpful if you want a pump (or any other bit of tech that's not standard).

Presuming there's a course offered by your local team and given by members of that team, I'd expect doing that one's likely to be better than doing another one. If it's not given by members of your local team, that'll reduce the benefit of doing that specific course significantly.

 

[Lucyr]

If you feel you’re generally managing ok then I’d ask if a face to face option is available and take that if available in say the first half of next year. In the meantime I’d do the online courses.

If you need help with bgs and understanding diabetes much quicker than I’d take the virtual option.

 

[Inka]

The latter, mostly. It's a way to formally show you've got some basic understanding of carb counting and all the other stuff the course teaches. There are other ways to do the same thing: BERTIE online, MyType1diabetes, etc. Those are likely to work just as well. Doing such a course (and being able to show you've done it) is likely to be helpful if you want a pump (or any other bit of tech that's not standard).

Presuming there's a course offered by your local team and given by members of that team, I'd expect doing that one's likely to be better than doing another one. If it's not given by members of your local team, that'll reduce the benefit of doing that specific course significantly.

I’d hope a person’s team would know them well enough to make that judgement.

 

[Lucyr]

The latter, mostly. It's a way to formally show you've got some basic understanding of carb counting and all the other stuff the course teaches.

There have been other benefits at my in person course. I’ve never had a blood ketone meter before and now have one, I’ve never seen glucagon before but will see that next week, my pen is a bit worn out and I don’t have a spare so they’ll bring one next week, the person who couldn’t get a sharps bin got that sorted. Some of the carb counting is based on physical food items rather than just the theory.

People are definitely being sent on it before a pump though as you need to have a solid grasp on the basics before a pump. At only 16 years diagnosed I’m the most newly diagnosed on my face to face course. At least half of the others cited pump desire as the reason they’re doing the course.

 

[helli]

I’d hope a person’s team would know them well enough to make that judgement.

My team see me less than once a year and, until I got a pump, it was a different "team" at each "annual review" so they didn't know me.
However, the DAFNE course equivalent was given by a couple of DSNs and a dietician so it was a chance for them to assess the "pump candidates", not just for their ability to carb count but also for their willingness and ability to put in the time to get the most out of a pump. One guy, turned up to the first day, learned that he would still need to carb count with a pump and didn't bother with the rest of the course. He was not prioritised for a pump.