“Totally surprised and totally humbled.” That’s how Debbi Bronson, RN, BSN, CDCES, felt on receiving the Preceptor of the Year Award.
For 20 years, Bronson’s passion has been caring for and educating patients about their diabetes. As a preceptor, she shares that passion with Family Medicine residents.
“I love it when they start to have ideas and interact with the patients to make suggestions,” Bronson said. “That’s when you know it has clicked for them.”
The Preceptor of the Year Award recipient is selected by each residency class in recognition of a preceptor’s commitment to excellence in education and training of family medicine residents. It also recognizes the vital role preceptors play in a resident’s educational journey.
“I hope that they will walk away with a better understanding of how patients feel when they have diabetes,” Bronson said. “It’s such an up-and-down disease and there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. They are all individuals.”
Bronson is in her fourth year as a preceptor. Each family medicine resident precepts with her for a month at a time.
“We go over the whole gamut of diabetes,” she said. “Some of them come back and do an extra month because they want to see more. It’s such an all-inclusive disease. It pulls in the risk of heart attack, stroke, complications of kidney failure. It affects so much of a person.”
Bronson started her nursing career in 1992. Having a sister with type 2 diabetes and a brother-in-law with type 1 diabetes drew her into diabetes education as a career path.
Bronson has seen diabetes treatment advance quite a bit over her 20 years. As a certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES), she enjoys staying up-to-date and sharing that knowledge with tomorrow’s family medicine physicians.
“It keeps me on my toes and the advances make it easier to take care of patients,” she said.