Objectives and competences

The epidemic characteristics of diabetes, with secondary morbidity that has a considerable impact on health and economy, have created the need for a larger body of professionals specifically trained in the treatment of this disease.

The master's degree in Principles of Care and Education for Diabetes Sufferers provides expert, interdisciplinary training in diabetes. Graduates will be prepared to take on leading roles in the field of this chronic disease, which can occur at any age and requires highly complex treatment and control at all levels of care. The introduction of this master's degree is endorsed by the Sociedad Española de Diabetes (SED), the Associació Catalana de Diabetis (ACD), the Federación Española de Diabetes (FEDE), the Associació de Diabètics de Catalunya (ADC) and the Diabetes Education Study Group (DESG). It responds to the need for expert professionals who can work as leaders or case managers in specialized adult or pediatric diabetic units, in social and health care centres or in primary health care. This master's degree is aimed at holders of bachelor's degrees and equivalent undergraduate qualifications who work, or are interested in working, in the care and education of diabetic patients. A university degree, preferably in an area of health sciences, is required to enrol. Since this master's degree follows a blended-learning modality, classes, assignments and exams are mainly developed online. Face-to-face activities are distributed as follows:
  • Two periods of five days, once per semester, which take place at the UB Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
  • A two-week placement period, between March and June, which can be validated if professional experience is accredited in a diabetes unit (two years).
  • The presentation of the Master's Final Project, during the last week of June.

Basic information

TypeMaster's degree
Faculty or schoolMedicine Training and Research Section (Clínic)
Branch of knowledge
  • Biomedical sciences
  • Physiotherapy, podiatry, nutrition and dietetics, occupational therapy, optics and optometry, and speech therapy
Mode of delivery
  • Blended learning
Credits60
Number of places available30
Length of course1 academic year
Language(s) of instructionSpanish
Approximate price per credit27.67 euros per credit (82 euros for students who are not EU nationals and do not currently reside in Spain). Fees for the academic year 2023-2024
CoordinationVIOLETA LIA MOIZE ARCONE
E-mailvmoize@ub.edu
Course detailsIndicators
Open pre-enrolmentYes
Open enrolmentNo
Lead to doctoral studiesYes
Admission for applicants not holding a degree qualificationNo
Bridging coursesNo

Objectives and competences

Objectives

The aim of this master's degree is to provide advanced interdisciplinary training in diabetes that will allow graduates to take up leading professional roles in addressing this chronic disease, which affects people of all ages and requires highly complex treatment and monitoring at all levels of care.

The general learning objectives are:
  • To acquire the skills to provide quality care for diabetes mellitus patients and to develop recognized expertise in the field

  • To acquire the skills to design, implement and assess therapeutic education programmes for diabetes sufferers and their families

  • To acquire the skills to design and implement research projects in the field of diabetes.


The master's degree aims to meet demand for professionals who can work as lead consultants or case managers in specialized diabetes units in social healthcare or primary care centres.

Competences

1. Basic and General Competences

Basic Competences
  • Capacity to acquire knowledge forming the basis of original thinking in the development and/or application of ideas, typically in a research context.

  • Capacity to apply the acquired knowledge to problem-solving in new or relatively unknown environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of studies.

  • Capacity to integrate knowledge and tackle the complexity of formulating judgments based on incomplete or limited information, taking due consideration of the social and ethical responsibilities involved in applying knowledge and making judgments.

  • Capacity to communicate conclusions, judgments and the grounds on which they have been reached to specialist and non-specialist audiences in a clear and unambiguous manner.

  • Capacity to develop skills to enable lifelong self-directed and independent learning.


General Competences
  • Capacity to critically assess alternative systems for managing chronic disease.

  • Capacity to understand the culture of an individual, diversity, cultural change, resistance to change and strategies for change.

  • Capacity to adapt care and education to situations with specific requirements that call for special consideration.

  • Capacity to devise actions to transfer research results to the clinic.

  • Capacity to apply the fundamental principles of scientific knowledge.

  • Capacity to critically analyse bibliographic works.


2. Generic competences
  • Capacity to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills.

  • Capacity to predict and control the evolution of complex situations through the use of new and innovative methodologies adapted to the field of care.

  • Capacity to understand and apply knowledge and its scientific principles and be able to solve problems in new, loosely defined contexts, including multidisciplinary highly-specialized research and professional contexts.

  • Capacity to develop independent skills to participate in research projects and scientific, technological and educational collaborative work in the field, in cross-disciplinary contexts with knowledge transfer potential.

  • Capacity to reflect on the ethical component of biotechnological and healthcare progress and its application to human life.

  • Capacity to discuss human dignity and associated rights.

  • Capacity to commit to professional development and specialization in the corresponding professional field.

  • Capacity to use teaching and learning methods and techniques in therapy education adapted to the patient's clinical, demographic and socio-cultural needs.

  • Capacity to design and implement clinical, epidemiological and educational research projects in the field of diabetes.

  • Capacity to apply scientific evidence and international standards to diagnose, treat and prevent acute and chronic complications in diabetes.



3. Specific competences
  • Capacity to incorporate the latest scientific findings on pathophysiology, epidemiology, technology and treatment into everyday practice in the fields of diabetes treatment and patient education and to implement the standards set out in applicable clinical guidelines.

  • Capacity to support culturally aware care processes for people with diabetes and their families or carers, throughout the disease cycle.

  • Capacity to define special dietary measures for diabetes sufferers, with or without associated disorders, with attention to their nutritional and metabolic requirements and dietary habits.

  • Understanding of the physiological and metabolic principles of physical exercise, and how to adapt exercise and recommendations to individuals with type-1 or type-2 diabetes.

  • Capacity to use the primary tools for diabetes management.

  • Capacity to personalize the pharmacological treatment of diabetes.

  • Capacity to correct hyperglycemia according to insulin sensitivity.

  • Capacity to adapt the treatment and management of diabetes to special situations (concurrent diseases, surgery, foreign travel, etc.).

  • Capacity to apply the principles of teaching and learning and behavioural change that promote self-care in diabetes sufferers, with the support of relatives or carers.

  • Capacity to plan, execute and assess educational programmes to promote effective self-management of diabetes and to create quality educational materials.

  • Capacity to use new technologies for the treatment and education of diabetes sufferers (insulin infusion pumps, continuous glucose monitoring devices, continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion systems and telematics applied to care and education).

  • Capacity to manage treatment regimens and the care and education requirements of complex patients with multiple disorders.

  • Capacity to differentiate the physiopathology of type-1 diabetes mellitus, type-2 diabetes mellitus, monogenic diabetes, neonatal diabetes and other types of diabetes, and to describe the differences between these diseases and their clinical evolution.
  • Capacity to promote active patient and family involvement in decision making on the pharmacological treatment of diabetes.

  • Capacity to identify risk factors and to implement the recommendations set out in clinical guidelines to prevent and treat chronic complications.
    Capacity to identify acute complications of diabetes (hypoglycemia, ketosis, diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic coma) and the signs and symptoms they involve, with attention to their treatment and the prevention of the risk factors that trigger these complications.

Access and admission

Applicant profile and access requirements

Recommended applicant profile

This master's degree is intended for holders of bachelor's degrees and equivalent undergraduate in qualifications in health science who work, or are interested in working, in the care and education of diabetic patients. A university degree, preferably in an area of health sciences, is required to enrol. Applicants should:
  • Be practising health professionals and members of scientific associations in the field of diabetes
  • Professionals providing care to diabetes suffers, in particular to high-risk groups: children, adolescents, pregnant women, elderly patients; OR
  • Be health professionals in medical specializations in which there is a high prevalence of patients with diabetes (nephrology, cardiology and vascular surgery) or professionals with certified postgraduate training in scientific or clinical aspects of diabetes;
  • Provide a full curriculum vitae (indicating professional experience, academic training, scientific output);
  • Have an intermediate level of English;
  • Have solid user-level IT skills.

Access requirements and conditions

General requirements
In accordance with Article 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, of 29 October, students wishing to be admitted to a university master's degree must hold one of the following qualifications:

  • Official Spanish university degree.

  • A degree issued by a higher education institution within the European Higher Education Area framework that authorizes the holder to access university master's degree courses in the country of issue.

  • A qualification issued by an institution outside the framework of the European Higher Education Area. In this case, applicants must request homologation of the degree to its equivalent official Spanish university qualification or obtain express approval from the University of Barcelona, which will conduct a study of equivalence to ensure that the degree is of a comparable level to an official Spanish university qualification and that it grants access to university master's degree study in the country of issue. Admission shall not, in any case, imply that prior qualifications have been recognized as equivalent to a Spanish master's degree and does not confer recognition for any purposes other than that of admission to the master's degree course.

Specific requirements
This master's degree is intended for holders of bachelor's degrees and equivalent undergraduate qualifications in health sciences who have advanced computer skills to use the Virtual Campus.

Pre-enrolment

Calendar

1 February - 30 May 2024.

Notes:

  • Pre-enrolment fee: A pre-enrolment fee of 30,21 euros is charged. Students who apply to more than one master's degree must pay the fee for each pre-enrolment request. Pre-enrolment requests cannot be processed until this fee has been paid.Fees will only be refunded if the master's degree in question is suspended.
  • Reserved places: A maximum of 5% of the new places of the master's degree are reserved for students who meet the general and specific access requirements and accredit the recognition of a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33%.

Required documentation

Selection criteria

  • Health professionals who are members of scientific associations in the field of diabetes (35%).
  • Members of specific groups (professionals providing care to diabetes suffers, in particular to high-risk groups: children, adolescents, pregnant women, elderly people) (25%).
  • Health professionals in medical specializations in which there is a high prevalence of patients with diabetes (nephrology, cardiology and vascular surgery) or professionals with certified postgraduate training in scientific or clinical aspects of diabetes (10%).
  • Curriculum vitae (indicating professional experience, academic training, scientific output) (10%).
  • Intermediate level of English (10%).
  • Solid user-level IT skills (10%).

Notification

At the end of the pre-enrolment period, the Coordination Committee will evaluate the applications and select students on the basis of the above criteria. Successful candidates will be notified during July. Candidates who are not accepted may appeal or request a review of the decision in a letter addressed to the Coordinator.

Enrolment

As a general rule, at the UB you will be required to enrol online. Remember that you can lose your place if you do not enrol on the day you have been assigned

Course curriculum

Subjects and course plans

Distribution of credits

Type ECTS
Compulsory 38
Optional 4
Compulsory placements 8
Compulsory final project 10
TOTAL 60

List of subjects

Subject Type Language Credits
Specialization: Principles of Care and Education for Diabetes Sufferers
Diabetes and Multiple Disorders Optional 1st semester 4
Diabetes in Special Situations Compulsory 2nd semester 4
Final Project Compulsory 2nd semester 10
Institutional or Company Placement Compulsory 2nd semester 8
Lifestyle and Diabetes Compulsory 1st semester 4
Pathophysiology of Diabetes and Complications Compulsory 1st semester 8
Programme Management, Planning and Evaluation Compulsory 2nd semester 4
Qualitative Techniques in Health Sciences Compulsory 1st semester 4
Quantitative Techniques in Health Sciences Compulsory 1st semester 4
Recerca Bàsica en Diabetis Optional 2nd semester 4
Therapeutic Education. Psychoeducational and Social Skills Compulsory 2nd semester 4
Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus Compulsory 1st semester 6

Previous years

Placements

Placements contributes to the comprehensive training of university students and facilitates knowledge of a working methodology appropriate to professional reality. In this way, they offer practical experience that allows future graduates to be integrated into the labour market. The course curriculum includes a mandatory subject of 8 credits (200 hours).



Work placements are tutored and evaluated. They therefore appear in the student's academic record. In addition, extracurricular practices of up to 750 hours can be carried out, which can be extended to 900 hours. In terms of both curricular and extracurricular practices, prior formalisation of an educational cooperation agreement with the collaborative entity in which the practices are to be carried out. The coordinator of the teaching practice program Mercè Vidal Flor.

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

The advanced training provided by this master's degree will allow successful graduates to:
' pursue careers as experts in general care practices and multidisciplinary patient management in the field of diabetes;
' continue their studies at doctoral level;
' develop the skills required for ethical and independent professional practice in care, treatment education and research, in the areas of specialized hospital care, primary care and home care, or in universities and research centres.

The Spanish Diabetes Association (Sociedad Española de Diabetes, SED) endorses the academic profile of expert/specialist in diabetes acquired through postgraduate training as suitable for professional practice in specialized adult or pediatric diabetes units and as specialist consultants in primary care or social healthcare centres. The training received by participants in this master's degree is suitable for public- and private-sector professionals (podiatrists, psychologists and nutritionists) whose work requires them to deal with the specific requirements of diabetes sufferers. The course may also be of interest to primary education professionals, school nurses and members of parent associations.

Access to the labour market

Data from the university system in Catalonia

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