Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a deadly disease that can result in serious complications and even death. It is also a costly disease resulting in a significant impact on society as a whole. There are many nationally recognized clinical guidelines on how to prevent and treat diabetes and also programs to help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in individuals. However, even with these programs, diabetes remains prominent in the United States. People who are pre-diabetic have high blood glucose levels or a high hemoglobin A1C but the values are not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Pre-diabetics are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The goal is to prevent this from happening by identifying this population early on through routine screening and educating them on how they can reduce their risk. This starts in the primary care setting, and nurse practitioners are in a key position to educate the pre-diabetic population.