Impact of a Quality Improvement Intervention on Provider Adherence to Recommended Standards of Care for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Purpose: To report provider adherence to standards of care for adults with type 2 diabetes before and after a quality improvement (QI) intervention.

Data Sources: Pre- and post intervention data were abstracted from 50 medical records of patients with type 2 diabetes in a small primary care practice.

Conclusion: There was a significant increase in the rates of foot and urine microalbumin screenings, documentation for dilated eye exams were not statistically significant. These findings demonstrated the effectiveness of using simple practice aids to reinforce adherence to the standards of care in diabetes. The failure to see a corresponding improvement in glycemic and blood pressure control is consistent with prior research and the need for more research in this area remain critical.

Implications For Practice: Ethnic minorities are more likely to have worse control of their diabetes and more likely to receive all their care in the primary care setting, QI interventions targeting primary care providers have the potential to reduce disparities in diabetes care. Future research to determine whether cultural tailoring of diabetes QI interventions will produce additional benefits above those of generic diabetes QI interventions are needed.