Diabetes Patient "Report Card" Wins Best Practices Award at the Diabetes Best Practices Website
A "report card" issued to diabetes patients was selected as the best entry in a contest at an interactive website for clinicians working in the field of diabetes patient care.
Somerville, NJ (PRWEB) March 24, 2009
Getting patients to make the lifestyle changes necessary in managing diabetes is a challenge for clinicians, but Dr. Andrew W. Garner of Glens Falls, NewYork seems to have come up with a good idea to motivate his patients: a "report card" evaluating how well patients reach exercise, cholesterol, weight loss, and Glycosylated Hemoglobin targets.
Dr. Garner's submission of his "report card" method to the Diabetes Best Practices (http://www. diabetesbestpractices. com) Website was selected the best entry in the "Best Practices" contest by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), who is the academic partner on the website.
"Patients need to understand that exercise and weight loss can make an important contribution in achieving glycemic control," explained Dr. Garner who has designed a patient report card in which weight loss and exercising goals are set up for the patients.
The report cards have been popular with the patients and clinicians alike. Dr. Garner emphasized that "patients can be motivated to do their part in managing the treatment of their illness in part by exercising and losing weight, by setting realistic goals and by consistent encouragement."
The card shows lab results for each particular patient and goals based on clinical guidelines are also included for review with the patient. Finally, an evaluation of the patient's progress in achieving the goal is reported as a "grade."
In addition to weight loss and exercise targets the report card also displays the guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Panel (NCEP) as well as guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Dr. Garner's presentation, showing the report card and explaining how it can be used is available at the Diabetes Best Practices website, http://www. diabetesbestpractices. com (http://www. diabetesbestpractices. com).
In addition to Dr. Garner's report card, the site also features a discussion topic on its blog based on a new report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The report, written by Dr. Jay Skyler and others, offers guidelines based on the results of the ACCORD, ADVANCE, UKPDS 80, and VADT studies which focus on the relationship of glycemic control and cardiovascular disease.
The report card is now available to download on the Diabetes Best Practices website. The Skyler report is now posted on the Best Practices BLOG.
The Diabetes Best Practices website is a collaborative project of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and Embryon and is supported by an educational grant from sanofi-aventis U. S.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is the nation's largest health sciences university. UMDNJ-Center for Continuing and Outreach Education (UMDNJ-CCOE) is the university's accrediting unit sponsoring national and international continuing medical education for a wide range of healthcare professionals.
Embryon is a medical communications provider to the pharmaceutical industry.
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