Tablet-based communication tool improved CVD awareness for Hispanics with diabetes
Minority Diabetes Reports Thursday, June 28th, 2012Endocrinetoday.com: Posted on June 12, 2012.
PHILADELPHIA — Use of a Spanish-language, tablet computer-based communication tool resulted in a higher rate of discussion of CVD risk and changes in medications to treat risk factors in a group of Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes.
Paris Roach, MD, reported data from a randomized controlled comparison of the intervention, as compared with usual care, at four urban primary care clinics providing care to the local Spanish-speaking Hispanic population.
“The goal was to get patients more involved in their own care so they can understand their risk [for CVD], be activated to discuss risk with their primary care providers, and adopt and adhere to therapies to address their risk factors,” Roach, associate professor of clinical medicine, division of endocrinology, Indiana University School of Medicine, said during an oral session at the American Diabetes Association’s 72nd Scientific Sessions.
The multimedia communication tool consists of a series of 5- to 12-minute video presentations that patients viewed on tablet computers just prior to outpatient visits. Each presentation incorporates individual CVD risk factor data and 10-year CVD risk based on UKPDS Risk Engine Estimates. The tool provides patients with an overview of CVD risk using the patient’s own clinical data, calculates risk and displays risk factors, according to Roach.
The efficacy of the communication tool was studied in 122 Spanish-speaking patients with type 2 diabetes and no known CVD (mean age, 47 years). Each patient had at least one uncontrolled CVD risk factor (LDL ≥130 mg/dL; systolic BP ≥150 mm Hg; HbA1c ≥8%). Patients were assigned to the intervention group or a control group. Read more
