Eye on Diabetes: A Multidisciplinary Patient Education Intervention

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of usual care to anintervention emphasizing patient education targeted at a multicultural adultpatient population with diabetes seeking eye care in an academic healthcenter. Methods Ninety patients were randomized to usual care or to the intervention. Allpatients received a comprehensive eye health and vision examination andcompleted a demographic survey, a patient satisfaction survey, and a diabeteseye health pretest and posttest administered by a masked examiner at 1 weekand 3 months. A multidisciplinary (optometry, pharmacy, endocrinology) patienteducation curriculum was developed for patients randomized to theintervention. Because the dependent variable was measured at 3 points on anominal scale, a binary generalized estimating equation was employed. Results The assessment of patient knowledge at baseline revealed misconceptionsabout diabetic eye disease. While most patients recognized that people withdiabetes should have regularly scheduled eye examinations through dilatedpupils (90.0%), most patients incorrectly reported that diabetic eye diseaseusually has early warning signs (75.6%). While controlling for age, gender,race, education, and HbA1c level, subjects who participated in theintervention were 2 times more likely to score higher on the posttest(χ² = 45.51, P > .00). No differences betweenpretest and posttest scores were found for patients who did not participate inthe intervention (χ² = 11.67, P > .11). Conclusions Patients who participated in the educational intervention demonstrated anincrease in knowledge across time. Patients may benefit from educationemphasizing the importance of dilated eye examinations in the absence ofocular symptoms.