Telehealth and its Impact on the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Author

Melissa N. Toulios, Valparaiso University

Date of Award

5-7-2023

Degree Type

Evidence-Based Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Mackenzie Shireman

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) is a growing epidemic that affects millions of people throughout the world. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has created many new challenges, including access to health care for treatment of chronic diseases, such as diabetes (Robson & Hosseinzadeh, 2021). Telehealth has offered a promising approach to improve the management of diabetes(Bellman, 2021). People with diabetes are less likely to manage their diabetes through the usual care because of risk of contracting COVID-19 (CDC, 2022). The purpose of this EBP project was to evaluate the effectiveness of T2DM management through a telehealth approach. This project has addressed the following PICOT question: In patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 who have difficulty with medical visit compliance (P), will the telehealth platform (I), compared to patient's previous face-to-face visit HgbA1c (C) improve future HgbA1c diagnostic marker readings (O) over a 12-week period(T)? This EBP project took place in a private practice located in the suburbs of Chicago. Twenty-one patients participated in this quality improvement project with an average age of age of the patients was 53 years of age (SD-11.6). Two-thirds of the participants were self-identified as female (67%, n=14) and one-third were self-identified as being male (33%, n=7). The mean pre-intervention HbA1c 7.9% (SD=1.04%). The median HBA1c was 7.5% (IQR=1.4%). The minimum HbA1c was 6.7% and the maximum pre-intervention HbA1c was 10. The average post-intervention HbA1c was 7.0% (SD=.79%). The median post-intervention HBA1c was 6.9% (IQR=1.3%). A paired t-test was utilized and showed that there was statistical significance in the outcome. The statistical findings indicated that the post-intervention HbA1c was less then pre-intervention HbA1c (p

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Recommended Citation

Toulios, Melissa N., "Telehealth and its Impact on the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus" (2023). Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports. 198.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/ebpr/198