A Review of Recent Literature - Nurse Case Managers in Diabetes Care: Equivalent or Better Outcomes Compared to Primary Care Providers

Primary care has changed remarkably with chronic disease burden growth. Nurse case managers assist with this chronic disease by providing if not significantly better care, than equivalent care to that provided by usual primary care providers. Chronic disease management requires patient-centered skills and tools, such as registries, panel management, review of home data, communicating with patients outside of face-to-face care, and coordinating multiple services. Evidence reviewed in this article demonstrates that registered nurse care managers (RNCM) perform many actions required for diabetes chronic disease management including initiation and titration of medications with similar or improved physiologic and patient satisfaction outcomes over usual care providers. Selection and training of the nurse case managers is of utmost importance for implementation of a successful chronic disease management program. Evidence based guidelines, algorithms, protocols, and adequate ongoing education and mentoring are generally cited as necessary support tools for the nurse case managers.