Introduction to SEREN
SEREN is the award winning and QISMET-accredited structured education programme for children and young people with Type 1 diabetes.
Background
A multi-disciplinary working group was first formed in January 2013 with the vision of developing a diabetes education package for children and young people in Wales. This included health professionals from various disciplines, as well as parent representatives, from across the region. The group received some financial assistance from Sanofi and Roche which enabled the work to progress.
The first module “Diabetes at Diagnosis” was launched in 2015, coinciding with the establishment of Children and Young People’s Wales Diabetes Network. SEREN is a key workstream of the Network, which ensures ownership and input from all teams across Wales. Since 2015, SEREN received annual funding from the Welsh Government’s Diabetes Delivery Plan fund administered by the All Wales Diabetes Implementation Group (AWDIG).
SEREN Diabetes at Diagnosis has subsequently been purchased by Networks and individual paediatric teams in other parts of the UK. Additional modules have been developed, piloted and rolled out in Wales, covering some important aspects of life with diabetes. In 2017, SEREN won a Quality in Care (Diabetes) Award, and in 2020 it became the first paediatric diabetes education programme to receive accreditation from QISMET, thereby becoming the only programme to fulfil NICE criteria for structured education.
SEREN Diabetes at Diagnosis
SEREN Diabetes at Diagnosis has been designed in line with the key stage system used in schools. The Key Stage 3&4 SEREN Workbook is targeted at the secondary school age group and is designed to be delivered to both the young person and their family. The Key Stage 3 resources have been revised and redesigned in 2021.
The SEREN workbooks for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 1 have fewer words and include more pictures and interactive activities. The workbooks are colour coded so that they can be selected according to the ability of the individual CYP and family without reference to the key stages.
The SEREN Family Workbook accompanies the workbooks for children in key stages 1 and 2. The Family Workbooks provide the additional information that parents and carers need to safely manage Type 1 diabetes
A number of interactive resources have been developed to aid the education. The main resource used is the interactive magnetic storyboard which can be used to describe a number of different aspects of diabetes care. The storyboard is supplied with a series of magnets of various types of food and drink, symbols for glucose, insulin, and ketones as well images of diabetes equipment such as insulin pens and meters.
SEREN Diabetes at Diagnosis begins at the point of diagnosis and teams aim to complete the education within the first 6 weeks, in line with best practice recommendations. SEREN is flexible and can be delivered in a range of settings including the ward, clinic or in the family’s home. Each team can therefore tailor delivery to meet local needs.
SEREN Diabetes at Diagnosis has been designed to be delivered by any members of the diabetes team who have received training in delivering the SEREN programme. Some sections are more specific to a particular profession, however the curricula and lesson plans provide enough detail to allow any team member to deliver the content.
Evaluation
The first module Diabetes at Diagnosis has now been formally evaluated. A prospective design service evaluation was carried out between December 2018 and September 2019 and looked at the impact of this module on the quality of life of children and young people and their families, as well as the usefulness and effectiveness of the resources. Additionally clinical outcomes including HbA1c and hospital admissions over the first year were looked at. The results have been published in the BMJ Open quality Questionnaire-based service evaluation of the efficacy and usefulness of SEREN: a structured education programme for children and young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus | BMJ Open Quality
Coming soon – SEREN Digital
The SEREN group is currently working in partnership with the BERTIE diabetes education programme and commercial partners to develop a digital platform that links the SEREN resources with BERTIE to enable a seamless online Type 1 diabetes learning resource from childhood into adulthood.
Purchasing SEREN
If you work outside Wales and are interested in purchasing any of the SEREN resources, please get in touch by emailing seren.diabetes@wales.nhs.uk
Feed back on SEREN
If you have comments or complaints about the SEREN education that you have received, you can access our complaints form here.