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Diabetes work group develops checklist to facilitate collaborative care
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PHOENIX – The National Diabetes Education Program’s Pharmacy, Podiatry, Optometry and Dentistry Workgroup has developed a checklist to improve the effectiveness of communication and coordination among providers to foster a team care approach to managing diabetes, a presenter announced here at Academy 2012.
An online survey about the relevance of the checklist and the likelihood of implementation was distributed to a sample of diabetes care providers via the Internet.
“We wanted to know what the clinicians thought that would be best. We let them decide,” W. Lee Ball, OD, FAAO, told attendees.
Most respondents agreed about the appropriateness of the checklist and agreed that it was presented clearly, and 46% said they were likely to change their practice to more of a team approach, as such by incorporating other team care providers or by referring to other professionals.
Also, overall, the checklist was seen as useful in actual practice, with about 30% of respondents indicating that it had a potential application for electronic medical record systems.
“Diabetes is a disease that wherever the blood goes, diabetes goes,” Ball said. “The comprehensive checklist can help improve diabetes team care by increasing provider communication and coordination; it helps ensure adherence to intended treatment plans, identify drug and disease management problems – in a timely manner – and improves clinical outcomes.”