Register for ADA’s Free Eye Health Continuing Education courses below!

Stay up to date on our newest Focus on Diabetes content on the ADA Institute of Learning.

Use these courses to help you and your patients reduce the risk, treat and manage diabetes-related eye disease.

These education opportunities are supported in part by an unrestricted grant by VSP.

Eye Health Professional Courses 

Diabetes, Nutrition, and Eye Health: A Guide for Eye Health Professionals 

Target Audience
This activity is intended for physicians, nurses, physician associates, registered dietitians, optometrists and other health care professionals.

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary: 

This module provides essential information on maintaining a healthy lifestyle for individuals living with diabetes. Focusing on nutrition and physical activity, the module emphasizes the crucial roles of each in helping to manage glycemia and prevent diabetes complications. This program offers practical recommendations for eye care professionals seeking to empower their patients with diabetes to take control of their health and well-being and thereby improve their quality of life.

Focus on Diabetes Series

Target Audience:

This activity is intended for all eye health office staff. 

This course does NOT offer CE credits. 

Course Summary: 

This online series highlight's the role of the eye care team in

4 Modules, focusing on recognizing risk factors for diabetes and encouraging screening for appropriate patients, while explaining the importance of lifestyle modifications to prevent and manage diabetes. 

Modules Included: 

• Diabetes 101: What is diabetes, what puts a person at risk for it, and—most importantly for our purposes—how can it affect eye health?
• Diabetes Prevention: What is prediabetes and how can someone keep it from progressing to diabetes? This is key because diabetic eye disease can start even before someone is diagnosed with diabetes.
• Diabetes and Eye Health: A deeper dive into diabetes-related eye conditions—what they are, how they’re treated, and the crucial importance of regular eye exams and screenings. Also, how diabetes affects optometric care and how to support patients with diabetes.
• Healthy Living with Diabetes: Managing diabetes can be challenging and requires empowered patients and a team approach to care. Offering information and support can help our patients with diabetes navigate the lifestyle changes, medication regimens, and health care visits they need to stay healthy for life. 

Focus on Diabetes: A Closer Look at Diabetes for Optometrists

Target Audience
This activity is intended for optometrists and other eye care professionals.

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary: 

This is an updated module, focusing on appreciating the person-centered considerations involved in the treatment of diabetic eye disease, understanding the latest recommendations for person-centered, outcomes-driven pharmacologic management of type 2 diabetes and how newer treatments affect diabetic eye disease specifically, and learning several approaches to effectively communicating with patients with diabetes and eye complications.

Primary Care Professional Courses 

Words Matter: Leveraging the Power

of Communication in Clinic Visits

Target Audience:
This activity is intended for physicians, nurses, physician associates, registered dietitians, optometrists and other health care professionals.

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary:

In this module, you will learn how to efficiently communicate with diabetes patients in the clinical setting. This course gives insight into the essential components of effective communication and how it can positively contribute to the overall health and well being of the patient.

Diabetes Related Retinal Disease

Target Audience:
This activity is intended for physicians, nurses, physician associates, registered dietitians, optometrists and other health care professionals.

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary:

In this module, you will learn how to recognize the burden of diabetes and diabetes-related retinal disease, how to screen for DRD, and how to properly treat DRD.

Low Vision Rehabilitation in Diabetes Care

Target Audience:
This activity is intended for physicians, nurses, physician associates, registered dietitians, optometrists and other health care professionals.

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary:

In this module, you will learn how visual impairment affects patients with diabetes, and be able to understand specific strategies to assist patients with diabetes and visual impairment.

Diabetes and Eye Health: A Guide for Primary Care Clinicians

Target Audience:

This course is specifically intended for primary care physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists and other health care professionals who manage patients with diabetes.  

CE credits are available for this course. 

Course Summary:

This is a 3-module course focusing on the current epidemiology of diabetes-related eye disease, recognizing how to foster collaborative care with other health care professionals involved in the care of your patients with diabetes as well  as identifying the clinical stages and features of diabetic retinopathy.

Modules Included:

• Overview of Diabetes and Eye Health
• Ocular Manifestations of Diabetes
• Supporting Patients and Fostering Collaborative Care