WVU in the News: Rural Study Explores Team-based Approach to Diabetes Care

Despite ample evidence that a collaborative, multidisciplinary team-based approach to managing type 2 diabetes that incorporates patient self-management leads to better outcomes(clinical.diabetesjournals.org) than methods that rely largely on the expertise of a single clinician, research on how this model performs in the primary care setting -- particularly in rural communities -- has been limited.

Now, results of a recent study(sma.org) published in the Southern Medical Journal show just how effective such an approach can be in the hands of family physicians and other health care professionals working in a rural setting.

The study involved an intensive diabetes clinic set up in the Department of Family Medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown that featured an interdisciplinary team consisting of an attending family physician, a family medicine resident, a pharmacist, a psychologist, a certified diabetes educator/dietitian, a case manager and nursing staff.

Read the full article from the American Academy of Family Physicians