Evidence-Based SiMCare Diabetes Used for Improving Patient Care Management
Minneapolis, Minnesota (PRWEB) December 15, 2014 -- Diabetes is a leading chronic disease in the United States, and many diabetes patients are not achieving optimal care goals for blood sugar, blood pressure, and lipid control. Many healthcare providers perceive their medical training for diabetes care as inadequate and recognize the need for better training to prepare them to safely and appropriately treat the growing number of people with diabetes. Clinical inertia (failure to initiate or intensify treatment in patients not achieving care goals) negatively impacts patient outcomes and has been shown to be more pronounced among resident physicians, particularly for diabetes medications.
SiMCare Diabetes is a virtual, on-line diabetes case-based activity designed by a team of physicians and medical experts at HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, a nonprofit institute and recognized leader in education and research, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. The research team, funded by grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health, developed resident learning objectives using data and analysis of treatment appropriateness and medical errors observed in practicing physicians to assess needs and gaps in knowledge, a process recommended by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.
Results of the most recent study using SiMCare Diabetes in 19 primary care residency programs have been published in the December issue of Academic Medicine and demonstrated significant improvement in residents’ diabetes patient management skills, knowledge, and confidence to achieve patient care goals including intensification of diabetes therapies safely and appropriately. “SiMCare Diabetes provides a safe interactive environment for residents to practice decision-making to bring virtual patients to their care goals which translates to greater confidence with diabetes patient management in the clinic,” said Jim “Woody” Woodburn, MD, MS, Chairman of Vital Simulations and past Chief Medical Officer of MinuteClinic. “Evidence-based research has demonstrated the value of SiMCare Diabetes as an effective training tool.”
About SiMCare Diabetes
SiMCare Diabetes is a simulated professional education tool for diabetes patient management that uses a proprietary platform of composite virtual patient medical records to simulate real-world patient care and individualizes feedback based on clinical decisions and adherence to diabetes care guidelines. SiMCare Diabetes is available on-line at SiMCare Health and through Vital Simulations. SiMCare Diabetes is Continuing Medical Education accredited for 18.0 AMA PRA Category 1 credits and is used by healthcare professionals at leading healthcare organizations for integrated care team education and training.
Visit http://www.simcarehealth.com to learn more and access a free test case.
David Wrightsman, Vital Simulations LLC, http://simcarehealth.com, 651-249-4203, [email protected]
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