"Quality improvement programs can improve diabetes care, especially when multiple strategies are used in combination," said Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw.Worldwide, diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart attack and other complications. With proper education, lifestyle changes and medications, people living with diabetes can reduce their risks, but implementing these changes isn’t easy.

Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw recently led an innovative Cochrane meta-analysis of 553 clinical trials including more than 400,000 participants around the world to determine the best quality improvement strategies for diabetes care.

Overall, the researchers found that the most effective strategies were:

• Healthcare team changes (e.g. seeing multiple professionals in one visit)
• Case management (e.g. blood pressure telemonitoring coupled with regular nurse phone calls)
• Patient education
• Promotion of self-management

They also looked at which strategies worked best in combination and for different groups of patients and identified promising future research priorities.

"Quality improvement programs can improve diabetes care, especially when multiple strategies are used in combination," said Dr. Grimshaw, head of The Ottawa Hospital’s Centre for Implementation Research and professor at the University of Ottawa. 

Learn more in this twitter thread.

The review is part of the Cochrane at 30 Special Collection, which highlights systematic reviews that use innovative methods to address important health questions.  

Authors: Yogasingam S, Konnyu KJ, Lépine J, Sullivan K, Alabousi M, Edwards A, Hillmer M, Karunananthan S, Lavis JN, Linklater S, Moher D, Manns BJ, Mortazhejri S, Nazarali S, Paprica PA, Ramsay T, Ryan PM, Sargious P, Shojania KG, Straus SE, Tonelli M, Tricco A, Vachon B, Yu CH, Zahradnik M, Trikalinos TA, Grimshaw JM, Ivers N.

Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Research Chairs Program. All research at The Ottawa Hospital is also enabled by generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.