"Life with Diabetes": A Pilot Study on an Experiential Continuous Glucose Monitoring Curriculum for Resident Physicians

The use of technology in diabetes mellitus (DM) management has been growing. The indications and coverage for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) have increased. Primary care (PC) clinics, including resident continuity clinics, are the frontline for DM management; however, they struggle to adopt CGM.

To implement a CGM curriculum to resident physicians to improve knowledge and confidence.

An internal medicine (IM) resident PC clinic in an urban academic medical institution.

Twenty-four IM residents.

We designed a curriculum that included a lecture about CGM indications, interpretation, ordering, and insurance consideration; and a voluntary, experiential learning module in which the residents wore a CGM.

We conducted a retrospective pre-post survey with a 4-point Likert scale. Average self-reported scores in knowledge increased for CGM (1) indications from 1.85 to 3.45, (2) ordering from 1.35 to 3.05, (3) functioning from 2.20 to 3.50, and (4) data interpretation from 1.85 to 3.25 (all p < 0.0001). Confidence for "describing CGM monitoring" and "fielding questions about CGM" increased from 2.25 to 3.65 (p < 0.0001) and 1.90 to 3.30 (p < 0.0001).

Given the demand for DM management in the PC setting, this targeted CGM curriculum has promise to help residents adopt CGM into their practice.