title: A randomised controlled trial of a patient based Diabetes Recall and Management System: the DREAM trial: a study protocol [ISRCTN32042030].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Whilst there is broad agreement on what constitutes high quality health care for people with diabetes, there is little consensus on the most efficient way of delivering it. Structured recall systems can improve the quality of care but the systems evaluated to date have been of limited sophistication and the evaluations have been carried out in small numbers of relatively unrepresentative settings. Hartlepool, Easington and Stockton currently operate a computerised diabetes register which has to date produced improvements in the quality of care but performance has now plateaued leaving substantial scope for further improvement. This study will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of an area wide 'extended' system incorporating a full structured recall and management system, actively involving patients and including clinical management prompts to primary care clinicians based on locally-adapted evidence based guidelines.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study design is a two-armed cluster randomised controlled trial of 61 practices incorporating evaluations of the effectiveness of the system, its economic impact and its impact on patient wellbeing and functioning.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. martin.eccles@ncl.ac.uk <martin.eccles@ncl.ac.uk>
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eccles
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hawthorne
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Whitty
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Steen
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanoli
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grimshaw
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D003628:Database Management Systems; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004739:England; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012042:Registries; D017010:Reminder Systems