International Diabetes Federation gives grant to UMDNJ-University Hospital...( The Foundation of UMDNJ has received...),Health

The Foundation of UMDNJ has received a grant for the UMDNJ-University Hospital (UH) in Newark, New Jersey from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) BRIDGES program to tailor interventions to improve outpatient care and access for people living with type 2 diabetes.

The academic teaching hospital provides care for a low-income, minority population with diabetes and found that many of its patients never connect to the outpatient diabetes clinic and fall through the cracks in follow-up care. UH has decided to see if the effects caused by this gap in services can be reversed by personalizing the transition from the hospital to the outpatient clinic facilitated by a diabetes care coordinator.

Approximately 40% of adult hospitalized patient at University Hospital have hyperglycemia with only 5% receiving follow-up outpatient care in the diabetes clinic. The University Hospitals goal is to fill the gap in their diabetes care by creating a process to improve access to the outpatient diabetes clinic and by actively facilitating continuity of care between the inpatient and outpatient settings.

The University Hospital project anticipates a reduction in-hospital emergency department visits and inpatient readmissions. It also hopes to improve health-related quality-of-life, health behaviors, and metabolic control in patients with diabetes.

Uncontrolled diabetes has a costly toll for our patients affecting loss of physical functioning and wellbeing. The most important goal of this study that needs to be met is improving the health-related quality of life for our patients. We hope that those entering the study will feel empowered to take an active role in improving the status of their diabetes through lifestyle changes, pill and/or insulin usage, said Dr. Melissa Scollan-Koliopoulos, the studys principal investigator.
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