Improving Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) Referrals in the Primary Care Setting

Title: Improving Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) Referrals in the Primary Care Setting Authors: Stephanie Sossong and Dr. Jean Hemphill, College of Nursing, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project is to implement a standardized referral process to DSMES in primary care. DSMES decreases complications from T2DM and reduces healthcare costs. However, patients diagnosed with T2DM are referred \u3c7% of the time. Aim: To assure that patients diagnosed with T2DM receive referrals to an accredited DSMES program. Processes: Baseline data of the number of patients with T2DM referred to DSMES was collected from a primary care clinic for 4 weeks. An educational in-service highlighting the benefits of DSMES, guidelines for referrals, and the process improvement was presented to providers and medical assistants. Data regarding referrals to DSMES after the process implementation will be collected for 4 weeks, numbers will be compared to pre-implementation data and reported using percent frequency. The IRB determined that the activities of this project are not defined as research involving human subjects. Results: The results of this project have not been determined yet, however; the expected outcome is an increased number of referrals to DSMES. Limitations: The limitations of this project include a small sample size and a short length of study. Conclusions: Implementing a standardized referral process in primary care increases referral rates to DSMES. This is important because DSMES has been proven to reduce diabetes related complications, healthcare spending, and prevalence of other comorbidities