Interdisciplinary speed dating augments diabetes self-management education and support to improve health outcomes Heather P. Whitley a,b, *, Warren D. Smith c , Courtney Hanson d , Jason M. Parton e a Department of Pharmacy Practice, Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn, USA b Montgomery Family Medicine Residency Program, Baptist Health System, 4371 Narrow Lane Rd, Suite #100 / Montgomery, Alabama, 36116, USA c Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn, USA d Culverhouse College of Business Institute of Business Analytics, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA e Culverhouse College of Business Institute of Business Analytics, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 30 January 2020 Received in revised form 30 April 2020 Accepted 11 May 2020 Keywords: Diabetes Education Interdisciplinary Outcomes Hemoglobin A1C Cholesterol Shared decision-making Chronic care model Chronic care Patient education Group education Diabetes self-management education Hospital utilization A B S T R A C T Objective: To determine if a novel interdisciplinary “speed-dating” clinic augments Diabetes Self- Management Education and Support (DSMES). Methods: Adult patients with diabetes attended a DSMES class. Two weeks later patients attended an interdisciplinary clinic utilizing a “speed-dating” format during which they progressed through 5 stations hosted by different healthcare disciplines at 30-minute increments: physician, pharmacist, nurse/ dietitian, case manager, and psychologist. Shared decision-making was utilized to identify mutually agreeable recommendations. Change in clinical outcomes were compared for DSMES-only attenders versus Dual-attendees; utilization of emergency department and hospital services were measured 12 months before and after attending the Speed Dating clinic. This analysis represents patients attending the program during 2016. Results: Sixty-nine attended the DSMES class, 40 of whom followed-up in the “speed-dating” clinic (58% return rate). Attending the Speed Dating clinic improved A1C (p = 0.003) and LDL-C (p = 0.003) compared to the DSMES class alone. Comparatively, after attending the speed-dating clinic, patients had fewer emergency department (p = 0.366) and hospital admissions (p = 0.036), and shorter lengths of hospital stay (p = 0.030). Conclusions: The interdisciplinary “speed-dating” approach improved diabetes outcomes beyond DSMES alone and reduced utilization of hospital services. Practice implications: Patients should attend DSMES but also participate in an Interdisciplinary Speed Dating follow-up to further improve outcomes. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the realm of diabetes care, diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) is an inarguably critical compo- nent of patient care. Implementation of effective self-management strategies based on knowledge and skills acquired through DSMES programs is necessary for optimization of diabetes outcomes. For this reason, the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Standards for Medical Care in Diabetes recommend that all patients with diabetes participate in DSMES programs [1]. The Chronic Care Model (CCM), conceptualized by Edward Wagner in the late 1990s [2], is a systematic approach to improving the healthcare system by better connecting patients to individual, provider, and community- based resources. The six core principles center around empowering patients to achieve their goals, monitoring progress of disease management, and identifying lapses in care [3]. Though each principle should work in concert with the others to achieve these endpoints, self-management education and support has been suggested as the most impactful facet of CCM in diabetes [4]. DSMES programs have established efficacy in improving diabetes self-care behaviors, increasing utilization of healthy coping strategies, reducing glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C), lowering body weight, improving quality of life, and reducing all-cause mortality risk and healthcare costs. A meta-analysis of 21 adult, group-based DSMES programs for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) found that patients’ A1C declined from an average * Corresponding author at: Baptist Health System, Montgomery Family Medicine Residency Program, 4371 Narrow Lane Rd, Suite #100/Montgomery, Alabama 36116, USA. E-mail address: whitlhp@auburn.edu (H.P. Whitley). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.05.015 0738-3991/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Patient Education and Counseling xxx (2019) xxx–xxx G Model PEC 6626 No. of Pages 7 Please cite this article in press as: H.P. Whitley, et al., Interdisciplinary speed dating augments diabetes self-management education and support to improve health outcomes, Patient Educ Couns (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.05.015 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Patient Education and Counseling journal homepage: www.else vie r.com/locate /pateducou