ED management : the monthly update on emergency department management
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Diabetic patients who lack access to primary care tend to frequent the ED, often with complications from their disease that could have been prevented with proper management and education. To get around the problem of access, researchers tested an automated program that continuously delivered educational messaging via text to a group of patients who presented to the ED with poorly controlled diabetes. After six months, researchers noted improvements in Hb A1c levels, self-reported medication adherence, and ED utilization when compared with a control group. ⋯ There were also medication reminders, healthy living challenges, and trivia questions about diabetes. At six months, Hb A1c levels decreased by 1.05% in the intervention group, compared to 0.60% in the control group, and self-reported medication adherence improved from 4.5 to 5.4 (as measured on an 8 point scale) in the intervention group versus a decrease of 0.1 in the control group. During the six-month study period, 35.9% of patients in the intervention group presented to the ED for care, as compared to 51.6% of patients in the control group.