| Description |
Background: There are about 98 million Americans with prediabetes and more than 38 million Americans with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes can lead to surgical complications, poor wound healing, infections, and suboptimal recovery outcomes. Experts estimate that only about 5% of patients with diabetes receive education regarding their condition. This project aimed to implement a diabetes education toolkit to increase the number of patients with diabetes who received diabetes education before outpatient pain procedures. Local Problem: Providers at a pain clinic in the western United States, serving patients of varying socioeconomic status, races, and educational backgrounds, report that they never or seldom provide diabetes education to patients. Clinic stakeholders identified that 10-20% of patients at the project site have diabetes and undergo procedures in the operating room. This project aimed to address the gap in diabetes education provided by healthcare providers at the clinic, thereby improving patient outcomes and reducing complications associated with diabetes. Methods: This was an evidence-based practice quality improvement (QI) project. A diabetes education toolkit was developed to facilitate diabetes education for patients before having a procedure at the pain clinic. It was implemented over a seven-week period. Thirteen participants, including providers, nurses, and medical assistants, participated. Interventions: A pre-intervention survey was distributed to medical staff at the pain clinic to identify perceived facilitators and barriers to implementing a diabetes education toolkit. A customized toolkit was developed to meet the needs of the medical staff at the clinic. Upon implementation, patient charts were audited weekly to evaluate how often diabetes education was provided. Weekly plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles were utilized to enhance the toolkit. Participants were contacted weekly to assess what went well and what prevented them from providing education. Barriers were addressed weekly to facilitate stricter adherence to providing diabetes education. Following a seven-week implementation period, a post-intervention survey was distributed to evaluate the feasibility, usability, and satisfaction of the diabetes education toolkit. Results: This QI project included thirteen participants at the pre- and post-surveys. Before implementing the diabetes education toolkit, all (100%) of the medical staff members reported that none or a few of the patients with diabetes received diabetes education. Post-implementation, 92.3% reported that most or all of the patients with diabetes received education. Patient chart audits during weeks one and two of the toolkit implementation revealed that about 40% of patients with diabetes received diabetes education. By weeks six and seven of implementation, over 90% of patients with diabetes received diabetes education. Conclusion: Implementing a diabetes education toolkit in this pain clinic drastically increased the number of patients with diabetes who received education regarding their disease. The project's strengths include high provider satisfaction with the toolkit, its usability in the clinic setting, and the significant increase in patients receiving diabetes education. The clinic's resources and capacity supported the feasibility of implementing the toolkit. Clinic stakeholders will continue collaborating to enhance and build on the diabetes education toolkit, ensuring its continued usability and satisfaction among both providers and patients. |
