Quality improvement strategies for diabetes management decrease HbA1c, cholesterol and blood pressure, and increase screening for disease complications

• Published in: Evidence-based nursing Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 89 - 90
• Main Author: Newlin Lew, Kelley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and RCN Publishing Company Ltd 01.07.2013; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Aspirin; Cardiovascular disease; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 - therapy; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - therapy; Drug use; Female; Heart attacks; Humans; Male; Medical personnel; Nursing; Physiology; Quality Improvement; Studies
• ISSN: 1367-6539; 1468-9618
• DOI: 10.1136/eb-2012-100954

Implications for practice and research Quality-improvement (QI) strategies improved glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), cholesterol (TChol) and blood pressure (BP) levels and increased aspirin and antihypertensive drug use in addition to retinopathy, renal and foot screening compared with usual care. Study inclusion criteria consisted of: randomised clinical trial (RCT) or cluster RCT design; assessment of predefined QI strategies for adult outpatient, DM management targeting health systems (eg, team changes) or professionals (eg, professional reminders) with or without inclusion of QI strategies targeting patients (eg, promotion of self-management); report of care process measure(s) (ie, proportion of patients taking aspirin, statins, antihypertensive drugs, screened for retinopathy, foot abnormalities and renal function) or intermediate outcome(s) (HbA1c, LDL-C, BP levels and/or proportion of patients with controlled hypertension or who quit smoking).