Diabetes flow sheet use associated with guideline adherence.
OBJECTIVE
Many intervention studies have found that flow sheet use improves patient care by drawing attention to a particular medical condition or needed preventive service and encouraging an immediate response from the health care professional; however, there are no studies examining how often flow sheets are used for diabetes in primary care practice. We assessed the relationship between diabetes flow sheet use and diabetes patient care outcomes in the everyday practice of primary care.


METHODS
We abstracted the medical records of 1,016 patients with diabetes seen at 54 New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania family practices participating in a quality improvement trial. The use of diabetes flow sheets was noted for each medical record. Scores for adherence to evidence-based diabetes guidelines in terms of assessment, treatment, and target attainment were determined on 100-point scales, with higher scores indicating better adherence. Generalized linear models were used to determine associations between use of diabetes flow sheets and adherence to guidelines.


RESULTS
Diabetes flow sheets were used in 23% of the medical records of patients with diabetes. Use of flow sheets was associated with better mean guideline adherence scores for the assessment of diabetes (55.38 vs 50.13, P = .02) and the treatment of diabetes (79.59 vs 74.71, P = .004), but not for the attainment of intermediate diabetes outcome targets (hemoglobin A(1c) level, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and blood pressure).


CONCLUSIONS
Diabetes flow sheets can be used to promote better adherence to guidelines when it comes to assessing and treating diabetes. Additional research is needed to explore patient and physician variables that mediate the relationship between use of diabetes flow sheets and intermediate outcome targets for diabetes.
Hahn
Karissa A
KA
UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Family Medicine, Somerset, New Jersey 08873, USA. clarkeka@umdnj.edu
Ferrante
Jeanne M
JM
Crosson
Jesse C
JC
Hudson
Shawna V
SV
Crabtree
Benjamin F
BF
D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009515:New Jersey; D010346:Patient Care Management / Q000379:methods*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies