A Diabetes Registry in a Medical Health Home for People with Mental Illnesses
This study involved the development and evaluation of a diabetes registry at two Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) serving patients with mental illnesses, operated by the University of Illinois (UIC) College of Nursing (CON) in collaboration with Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers. Electronic disease registries are an important tool that integrate physical and mental health care for individuals with chronic diseases. They capture and track important medical information enabling health care teams to effectively manage coordinated, integrated care.
The electronic registry designed for this study contained information that was accessible to patients, medical providers, and mental health staff. It included patient profiles of individuals needing more intensive medical care, a snapshot of disease outcome indicators updated at each visit, follow-up reminders for needed appointments and treatments, action lists prepared for patients and their case managers, and system level reports regarding the clinics’ adherence to standards of evidence-based diabetes care. Also created for this study was a comprehensive Diabetes Education Toolkit with over 50 patient education handouts written at a grade-school reading level to increase their accessibility and utility.
Our results suggest that the diabetes registry led to significant improvements over time in patients' glycolated hemoglobin (A1c), total cholesterol, triglycerides, triglyceride/HDL ratio, and blood pressure.
Access a presentation describing these findings.
Listen to a podcast on how to use a diabetes registry to coordinate care (or read the transcript).
Access our online Diabetes Education Toolkit, listen to a podcast about its benefits, and watch a how-to webinar.
Download our free diabetes registry you can start using today.
Listen to a podcast from someone co-managing diabetes and mental illness (or read the transcript).
The electronic registry designed for this study contained information that was accessible to patients, medical providers, and mental health staff. It included patient profiles of individuals needing more intensive medical care, a snapshot of disease outcome indicators updated at each visit, follow-up reminders for needed appointments and treatments, action lists prepared for patients and their case managers, and system level reports regarding the clinics’ adherence to standards of evidence-based diabetes care. Also created for this study was a comprehensive Diabetes Education Toolkit with over 50 patient education handouts written at a grade-school reading level to increase their accessibility and utility.
Our results suggest that the diabetes registry led to significant improvements over time in patients' glycolated hemoglobin (A1c), total cholesterol, triglycerides, triglyceride/HDL ratio, and blood pressure.
Access a presentation describing these findings.
Listen to a podcast on how to use a diabetes registry to coordinate care (or read the transcript).
Access our online Diabetes Education Toolkit, listen to a podcast about its benefits, and watch a how-to webinar.
Download our free diabetes registry you can start using today.
Listen to a podcast from someone co-managing diabetes and mental illness (or read the transcript).