Ruzica Vidovic

I am a proud daughter of Croatian immigrants. I grew up and completed my schooling in Western Sydney, NSW (Darug Country). I then completed a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy, and worked as a registered pharmacist in both community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy settings. I currently work in healthcare IT for a multinational company as a medicines information and clinical terminology pharmacist and when I'm not doing that, I am an accredited home medicines review (HMR) pharmacist in general practice out in the thriving community of Western Sydney. I also completed a Graduate Certificate in Advanced Pharmacy Practice prior to starting the Graduate Certificate in Diabetes Education and Management.

The management of diabetes commonly involves medications and medications management, but the ability to provide holistic, patient-centred care that includes consideration and support of the person with diabetes’ mental health, nutrition, physical activity, optimal blood glucose monitoring and targets, and the diabetes annual cycle of care can be overlooked by pharmacists, who are often time poor and lack sufficient opportunity to provide such support. I felt that having a more in-depth understanding of diabetes and how to best provide education and support to people with diabetes would be a great benefit when conducting HMRs, as this setting provides more time and opportunity for such discussions to take place. Diabetes is also a highly prevalent condition in Western Sydney and so there is plenty of opportunity to provide diabetes education and support via HMRs.

I am passionate about the quality use of medicines: ensuring that medicines are chosen appropriately and used safely, judiciously, and effectively so as to help meet the unique healthcare needs of each person.

I chose to study at UTS because I had a great experience studying my Graduate Certificate in Advanced Pharmacy Practice. It was through studying that course that I first heard about the potential for becoming a pharmacist diabetes educator, which then lead me to discovering that UTS had a Graduate Certificate in Diabetes Education and Management.

The most rewarding aspect of the course is having access to experienced credentialled diabetes educators from a variety of health care backgrounds and learning about the different aspects of diabetes education from their perspectives. The assessments also forced one to consider how to use lay language in communicating health care information, which is an essential part of the role of a diabetes educator. I also appreciated the opportunity to go on clinical placement. Even though I studied during the COVID lockdowns in Western Sydney, I was still able to have a practical experience of diabetes education by being in a diabetes unit and surrounded by health care professionals dedicated to this field of clinical practice.

I am working towards becoming a credentialled diabetes educator. It is early days, but I am glad that I have 4 years in which to complete the requirements.

Any future students who want to study the course should have an idea of why you want to study Diabetes Education and Management and what your goals are. This will help you maximise your time in the course. Take the opportunity to connect to other like-minded students. It can be hard with online study, but the friendship and support will be invaluable as you continue in the field after the course ends. It can be challenging balancing full-time work and part-time study, so time management and organisation skills are essential! Beyond that I would say enjoy the time and let it foster a life-long love of learning.