Simple diabetes program yields effective results: classes, more office visits.(Clinical Rounds)(Brief Article)

SAN DIEGO -- Enrollment in a simple diabetes management program improves diabetic measures, according to results from a chart review of diabetic patients at an Air Force base.

When Dr. Heidi Buckingham was an internist at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, she was frustrated by the lack of time she had with diabetic patients. They often came in with problems related to their disease, like swollen feet or a rash, but there was little time during 20-minute visits to address how they were managing their hemoglobin [A.sub.1c] levels or blood pressure, she said in an interview during the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. "You could …