Shared medical appointments in a residency clinic: an exploratory study among Hispanics with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of shared medical appointments (SMAs) among Hispanic patients with diabetes mellitus attending a family medicine residency clinic. STUDY DESIGN: Exploratory and descriptive study. METHODS: Hispanic patients having diabetes with poor glycemic control (glycated hemoglobin level, >7%) attending a family medicine residency clinic were randomized to an SMA group (n = 50) or a control group (n = 53).The main outcome was glycated hemoglobin level. Secondary outcomes were quality of life and diabetes knowledge. RESULTS: When comparing pre-post measures, there were mean decreases in glycated hemoglobin level of 1.19% for the SMA group (P <.01) and 0.67% for the control group (P = .02).In the SMA group, quality-of-life and diabetes knowledge scores increased by 5 and 1.5 points, respectively (P <.01). CONCLUSIONS: Implementing SMAs is feasible and effective among Hispanic patients with diabetes attending a family medicine residency clinic.Health plan managers and policy makers can work with family medicine residents to encourage the use of this model as an alternative approach or in addition to conventional one-on-one interactions with patients.

Awareness and prevention of osteoporosis among South Asian women.

We examined awareness of osteoporosis prevention among peri- and post-menopausal South Asian women attending two community centers in the Dallas/Fort-Worth Metroplex. We conducted a quasi-experimental study (final N = 61) assessing knowledge about osteoporosis among South Asian women (>or=40 years). The mean age was 52.3 years (SD = 8.72). Over 50% were college educated and 64% had no health insurance. We administered a baseline knowledge test, followed by a health education intervention and, 2 weeks later, by a post-test. Participants received one point for each correct answer and scores were added (