Diabetes Care

At wellLIFE:  A Diabetes Clinic and Educational Resource Center, our clients receive one-on-one consultations with a nurse practitioner.  Our Nurse Practitioners coordinate care between wellLIFE and the client’s primary care physician, diagnose and treat pre-diabetes and diabetes, order laboratory work and the appropriate medications, teach diabetes educational classes and provide follow-up care.

At wellLIFE, our Nurse Practitioners are trained with the knowledge and tools to be proactive and to align you on the path to well-being.  Below, please find an in-depth look at what nurse practitioners offer to their clients.

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who has completed specific advanced nursing education in a specialty and training in the diagnosis and management of common medical conditions in a specialty. Nurse practitioners provide a broad range of health care services. They promote a comprehensive approach to health care and emphasize the overall health and wellness of their patients.

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) provide much of the same basic, non-emergent care provided by physicians generally of the type seen in their specific practice areas like family practice offices, urgent care centers, and rural health clinics, and maintain collaborative working relationships with physicians. NPs take health histories and provide complete physical examinations, diagnose and treat many common acute and chronic problems, interpret laboratory results and X-rays, prescribe and manage medications and other therapies, provide health teaching and counseling to support healthy lifestyle behaviors and prevent illness, and refer patients to other health professionals as needed. An NP provides high-quality, cost-effective and individualized care for patients, families and communities.

NPs are licensed by the state in which they practice, and have a board certification in their area of practice. Rather than a generic focus of education, Nurse Practitioners are able to specialize in an area of study they desire (i.e. Diabetes, Pediatrics, Women's Health, Family Practice, Adult, Geriatric, etc.), and provide care within the scope of their expertise. As well, Nurse practitioners in certain states can be "psychiatric clinicians" and perform similar practice as a psychiatrist would.

Nurse practitioners may treat both acute and chronic conditions, as well as prescribe medications and therapies for the patient at hand. Many NPs have a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number that allows them to write for "controlled" medications in most states. Nurse practitioners may also bill for Medicare and Medicaid and private insurance for services performed. An NP can serve as a patient’s "point of entry" health care provider and see patients of all ages depending on their designated scope of practice. Often a patient will be referred by the NP to a physician for more definitive diagnosis and care. The core philosophy of the field is individualized care. Nurse practitioners focus on patients' conditions as well as the effects of illness on the lives of the patients and their families. Informing patients about their health care and encouraging them to participate in decisions central to the care provided by NPs.

At wellLIFE: A Diabetes Clinic and Educational Resource Center, our nurse practitioners bring diabetes to LIFE:  Learn, Identify, Fight and be Empowered!