Dissemination of diabetes care guidelines: lessons learned from community health centers

This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of a provider problem-based learning (PBL) intervention on screening for complications of diabetes in community health centers.

A successive sampling design was used to compare selected standards of diabetes care delivered preintervention with the care delivered postintervention at 2 community health centers and 1 comparison centers. Two randomly assigned intervention sites received a PBL intervention focused on care guidelines for prevention of diabetes complications, with telephone follow-up over 12 months. Effects of the intervention were determined from an audit of 200 charts from each site.

The odds of having a glycosylated hemoglobin test more than doubled from preintervention to postintervention, and the odds of having a foot examination more than tripled across centers. Measurement of creatinine and glycosylated hemoglobin were associated; the odds of having one test tripled when the other had been measured. Rates for documentation of patient education were significantly lower at the intervention site where free patient education booklets were distributed.

Improvements in diabetes care were not consistent among community health centers. Interventions involving system and policy changes may be more effective in implementing and sustaining improvements than just provider education.