April 20, 2007

Diabetes Self Management Education programs offered

Six of the MGH's outpatient practices — the Bulfinch Medical Group, Chelsea HealthCare Center, Diabetes Associates, Internal Medicine Associates, Revere HealthCare Center and Women's Health Associates — now offer Diabetes Self Management Education (DSME) programs for adult patients.

Highly experienced MGH diabetes educators teach the DSME programs. Patients work individually with an educator to create a plan. They then participate in a series of group classes to learn how to best manage their diabetes. The classes allow the patients to learn from and interact with their peers by sharing experiences and stories.

"Using a collaborative team approach, these programs strive to educate our patients with a comprehensive curriculum," says Sandy O'Keefe, diabetes program
manager for the Clinical Care Management Unit. "Patients in these programs can expect to learn about nutrition and exercise, medications, psychosocial adjustment, blood glucose level monitoring and complications prevention."

O'Keefe coordinated the establishment of many of the practices' programs. "Launching a DSME program involves a lot of work," she says. "All of these practices should be commended for their commitment to ensuring high-quality diabetes education for their patients."

The outpatient practices already have seen successful outcomes from their programs. Among these, many patients who have participated have seen their blood sugar and cholesterol levels decrease. "This is a tremendous advance for our patients," says Roger Pasinski, MD, director of the Revere HealthCare Center. "Patients are given information to improve their self-management of this very serious illness. It should
also pay off with substantially improved health outcomes in the future."

Barbara Chase, NP, CDE, of the Chelsea HealthCare Center, says that one of the best results of the DSME program is what her patients have to say about the program. One told her, "Now that I understand how to manage my diabetes, I can eat with my family for the first time in five years."

Additional outpatient sites throughout the MGH are implementing DSME programs to meet the needs of their patients. Patients are encouraged to ask their primary care physician for more information or for a referral. For more information, contact O'Keefe at smokeefe@partners.org.