Objective: To determine the benefits of diabetes nurse practitioner (DNP) intervention on glycemic control, quality of life and diabetes treatment satisfaction in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) admitted to cardiology inpatient services at a tertiary centre.
Patients and methods: Patients admitted to the cardiology service with T2DM who had suboptimal control (HbA1c >6.5%) were approached for the study. Diabetes care was optimized by the DNP through medication review, patient education and discharge care planning. Glycemic control was evaluated with 3-month post-intervention HbA1c. Secondary outcomes of lipid profiles, quality of life and treatment satisfaction were evaluated at baseline and at 3 months with fasting lipids, Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life questionnaires (ADDQoL) and Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaires (DTSQ) respectively.
Results: With almost 49% of patients admitted to the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute having HbA1c <6.5%, only 23 patients completed the study over a 12-month period. We found a significant decrease in HbA1c values at 3 months post-intervention from 8.0% (SD=1. 2) to 6.9% (SD=0.7), p=0.002. LDL showed a significant decrease at 3 months from 1.7 mmol/L (SD=0.7) to 1.1 mmol /L (SD=0.6), p=0.011. Overall median ADDQoL impact scores improved at follow up, from -1.4 to -0.4, p = 0.0003. Overall no significant changes in DTSQ scores were seen.
Conclusions: Short-term DNP intervention in T2DM patients admitted to the inpatient cardiology service was associated with benefits in areas of glycemic control and various domains of QoL. Our study provides support for the involvement of DNP in the care of cardiology inpatients at tertiary centres.
Keywords: Cardiology; Nurse Practitioner; Type 2 Diabetes; cardiologie; diabète de type 2; infirmier praticien.
Copyright © 2016 Canadian Diabetes Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.