Care of Diabetic Elderly in Nursing Homes Needs Improvement

Filed in archive Challenges , Family Matters , Information , Research on May 29, 2007

If you a have a diabetic family member in a nursing home, you might want to carefully read this and check out the care management in the nursing home of your choice.

According to a research finding from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, recently published in Diabetes Care (the journal of the American Diabetes Association): the care of elderly patients with type 1-insulin dependent and type 2 diabetes in extended care facilities fails to meet ADA Standards of Care.

The said article, entitled "Diabetes Care in Extended Care Facilities: Appropriate Intensity of Care?" is authored by Jay Shubrook, D.O., assistant professor of family medicine at OU-COM; Frank Schwartz, M.D., assistant professor of Endocrinology at OU-COM; and second-year medical student Rachel Holt.

The study examined the quality of care that diabetic patients receive in nursing homes through a retrospective chart review of 108 residents at 11 extended health-care facilities in Ohio and West Virginia over a period of one year.

According to Dr. Shubrook:

"Our study is based on the principle that there are guidelines on how to manage diabetes for the outpatient adult, and there are new guidelines for how to manage diabetes for patients in the hospital, but there are no guidelines for treating people in nursing homes.

Some things are done extremely well in nursing homes - for instance, foot exams and influenza vaccinations. Others are not done as well."

Shubrook and Schwartz are now developing treatment protocols for diabetes in nursing homes based on their findings, which will be offered to medical directors of these facilities in order to improve the quality and consistency of patient care.

Later, the Phase II of their study will determine if following the treatment protocols proposed resulted to an improved quality of life changes for the residents of corresponding nursing homes.

Find more details from the full report.