Quality Improvement of Diabetic Care at a Resident Clinic

Our objective was to develop a quality improvement project on diabetes mellitus at our internal medicine residency clinic. Residents developed projects aimed at improving an aspect of diabetic care. Continuity of care, achievement of clinical targets, no-show rates, patient knowledge of diabetes, and preventive care were evaluated. Our data was obtained with a questionnaire and a retrospective review of medical records. A different provider was scheduled about every 1.78 visit. The no-show rate was 25.4%. About half of patients identified goal hgbA1c and BPs, and 35% and 60% achieved their hgbA1c and SBP goals respectively. Nearly all of the charts planned for screening exams. We concluded that our clinic needs to improve diabetes education, reaching clinical targets, continuity of care and no-shows. Incorporating a QI project into the clinic with one disease such as diabetes is an efficient way to include practice based learning into an internal medicine residency’s curriculum.