Diabetes

Study Title
A Nurse Short Message Service by Cellular Phone in Type-2 Diabetic Patients for Six Months

Study Group
Control group pre-test-post-test design

Reminder Type
Weekly SMS

Summary
Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) decreased 1.15% points at three months and 1.05% points at six months compared with baseline in the intervention group.

Citation
Hee-Seung Kim PhD, RN, Hye-Sun Jeong PhD, RN, "A Nurse Short Message Service by Cellular Phone in Type-2 Diabetic Patients for Six Months," Journal of Clinical Nursing, Volume 16, Issue 6, (June 2007): 1082–1087.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.01698.x/abstract

Study Title
The Price of Non-Compliance

Summary
The least compliant diabetes patients were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized compared to those who were most compliant, and their total health-care costs were nearly double. The study notes that people who use their diabetes medications as directed are less likely to develop the short-term and long-term health problems that can require expensive care. For diabetes, every additional dollar spent on medication saved $7 in medical costs. The combined drug and medical costs for the most-compliant diabetes patients average $4,570, which is almost 50 percent below the $8,867 cost for the least-compliant group.

Citation
Starner, Tom,“The Price of Non-Compliance, ”Human Resource Executive, May 2, 2006. From the Medco Study on Diabetic Non-Compliance, 2005, Epstein, Robert MD.
http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=5059249

Study Title
Patient Self-Management Program for Diabetes: First-Year Clinical, Humanistic, and Economic Outcomes

Summary
Patients who participated in the The Asheville Project, a program in which pharmacists coached patients on how to self-manage their diabetes, had significant improvement in clinical indicators of diabetes management, higher rates of self-management goal setting and achievement, and increased satisfaction with diabetes care. Employers experienced a decline in mean projected total direct medical costs. Total mean health care costs per patient were $918 lower than projections for the initial year of enrollment.

Garrett, Daniel G. and Blum, Benjamin M., “Patient Self-Management Program for Diabetes: First-Year Clinical, Humanistic, and Economic Outcomes,” J Am Pharm Assoc. 2005;45:130:137
http://www.ncpharmacists.org/associations/4188/files/AshevilleDiabetes2.pdf

Empowering Diabetes Patients with Text Messaging (SMS)

When patients are engaged and understand their role, they become much more active and are capable of achieving significant improvements in adherence and other health outcomes."