Managing Diabetic A1C at a Primary Care Center: A Nurse Practitioner Perspective

Background: At a primary care center in Brooklyn, New York, approximately 27% of diabetic patients with abnormal Hgb A1C fail to return for follow-up appointments, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to electronic medical records (EMR), healthcare provid...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McDonald, Jacqueline
Format: Others
Published: NSUWorks 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_con_stuetd/53
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=hpd_con_stuetd
Description
Summary:Background: At a primary care center in Brooklyn, New York, approximately 27% of diabetic patients with abnormal Hgb A1C fail to return for follow-up appointments, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to electronic medical records (EMR), healthcare providers demonstrated inconsistency in ordering and monitoring Hgb A1C and clinic follow-up appointments for patients. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine retrospectively the healthcare providers’ ordering, monitoring, and follow-up appointments for adult diabetic patients with abnormal Hgb A1Cs; to develop and implement astandardized process for healthcare providers to monitor and follow these patients, especially those with possible nonclinic follow-up compliance and abnormal Hgb A1C; to determine prospectively healthcare providers’ ordering, monitoring, and follow-up appointments; and to evaluate the prospective charts to determine if Hgb AIC results changed from abnormal to normal or elevation over time until the next follow-up appointment.