A new model for diabetes care based on GPs-specialists cooperation through internet in community: Shanghai Wuliqiao study / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo assess the effectiveness of tele-medicine and self-management goal(SMG) setting technique used in the diabetes management in the community setting.Methods It is a control-group study.415 type 2 diabetic residents were recruited from the Shanghai Wuliqiao community based on existing medical records.The subjects were divided into two groups,the study group was cared by general practitioners (GPs) specialists cooperation through the tele-medicine mechanism,the other was a control group.For the study group,a cooperation pathway between community health care centers and general hospitals were established.Standardized training and guidelines were provided to community health workers,regarding the setting of management goals of blood glucose and blood pressure,treatment plan,patient education,and SMG techniques.Fasting blood glucose ( FBG ) and 2 h postprandial blood glucose (2hBG) in the study group were monitored,followed by community health workers visiting monthly with seminars for diabetes education.At the baseline and the 12tb month,FBG,2hBG,HbA1C,blood pressure,triglyceride,total cholesterol,body mass index,waist-hip ratio were determined in each group.A survey was conducted to evaluate the costs of diabetes treatments,the knowledge base related to their disease,lifestyle,and the awareness of the new care model.The rates of achieving the goal of blood glucose,blood pressure,and HbA1Ccontrol were calculated.Internet case discussion between GPs-Specialists and referral to certain specialists were implemented when some patients did not reach the control goal.ResultsBy the 12 month follow up,FBG,2hBG,HbAIc,blood pressure of the study group were lower than the baseline,and as well as the control group with statical significance (P＜0.05).There are other improvcmentsdiabetes knowledge (29.1％ vs 5.5％ ),healthy diet (9.6％ vs -10.4％ ),blood glucose monitoring (30.3％ vs 10.8％ ),support for diabetes care in community (35.7％ vs 9.4％ ),and the preference of the new model (63.8％ vs 17.9％ ) with statistical significauce (P＜0.01 ).As for the medical costs,the study group's monthly costs were consistently lower than the control's.( -3.39Yuan vs 32.26 Yuan,P＜0.05).ConclusionsThe new diabetes care model based on GPs-Specialists tele-medicine and SMG in community opens the door to the community based care model formulation in regard to the health quality and costs control.The deployment of more technologies and management techniques could be explored further to improve the outcomes of community based chronic disease care model.