Quality improvement initiative to integrate teaching diabetes standards into home care visits

This quality improvement project was initiated to determine the quality of diabetes care for clients of a home health agency and to integrate the teaching of diabetes standards of care into home care nursing visits.

A descriptive study design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching materials and the Standards of Care Teaching Program. Performance indicators and outcome measures from the American Diabetes Association Provider Recognition Program (ADA PRP) were used to determine the baseline status of diabetes care and for comparing performance measures from 50 home care clients.

The educational materials and care plan interventions helped nurses learn the standards and facilitated tracking interventions and performance measures. These results showed statistical significance in performance measures for eye, foot, lipid tests, and diabetes self-management education, but not for hemoglobin A1C, urine protein, and medical nutrition therapy.

The Standards of Care Teaching Program was a useful way to integrate the standards into a diabetes program and home care visits. Comparing clients' diabetes performance measures with national standards helped identify specific areas for quality improvement.