CBDCE certification covering diabetes self-management education and support across the care continuum.
Who it's for
Healthcare professionals (nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and others) with experience in diabetes care and education — CBDCE deliberately built CDCES as a multidisciplinary credential, recognizing that diabetes education happens across many professional backgrounds, not nursing alone.
What's covered
Organized around the ADCES7 Self-Care Behaviors framework:
- Healthy eating
- Being active
- Monitoring
- Taking medication
- Problem solving
- Healthy coping
- Reducing risks
What to expect
Expect patient-education and behavior-change scenarios woven through clinical content — the exam tests not just diabetes pathophysiology and pharmacology but your ability to apply the ADCES7 framework to real patient teaching situations.
How to prepare
ADCES (the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists) is CBDCE's closest professional-society partner and the field's primary source of review courses and study materials; CBDCE itself publishes the official content outline and eligibility requirements but doesn't sell prep products directly.
Certification details
- Certifying body: Certification Board for Diabetes Care and Education (CBDCE).
- Eligibility: A qualifying healthcare license or advanced degree, plus a minimum of hours of diabetes self-management education practice within the past 5 years.
- Exam format: Computer-based multiple-choice exam covering the CBDCE content outline, administered at Prometric test centers.
- Content outline: Based on the ADCES7 Self-Care Behaviors framework — healthy eating, being active, monitoring, taking medication, problem solving, healthy coping, and reducing risks.
- Recertification: Every 5 years, via continuing education credits or exam retake.
