Effectiveness of Shared Medical Appointments Versus Traditional Clinic Visits for Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes

The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of traditional clinic visits with shared medical appointments for adolescents with type 1 diabetes in terms of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) improvement. Eighty ESCALAIT patients, aged 11 to 19 years were compared with 516 clinic controls of the same age. Visits were approximately 3 months apart for both patient groups. Changes in HbA1c between groups were calculated from the first to fourth visits. There was a statistically significant difference between the ESCALAIT clinic patients and the control patients. Our results revealed that the group visit patients had less improvement in HbA1c values at the last visit approximately 1 year later, but we would argue that the difference is not clinically significant. However, there were many benefits to shared medical appointment visits including increased access to care as well as peer support. Shared medical appointments are therefore a valid alternative to traditional clinic visits in this patient population.
Source: Quality Management in Healthcare - Category: Health Management Tags: Quality Improvement - Shared Medical Appointments: Original Article Source Type: research