Effectiveness of Technologically Enhanced Peer Support in Improving Glycemic Management Among Predominantly African American, Low-Income Adults With Diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine whether a peer coaching intervention is more effective in improving clinical outcomes in diabetes when enhanced with e-health educational tools than peer coaching alone.

Methods: The effectiveness of peer coaches who used an individually tailored, interactive, web-based tool (iDecide) was compared with peer coaches with no access to the tool. Two hundred and ninety Veterans Affairs patients with A1C ≥8.

Study protocol: The Technology-Enhanced Coaching (TEC) program to improve diabetes outcomes - A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Racial and ethnic minority adults with diabetes living in under-resourced communities face multiple barriers to sustaining self-management behaviors necessary to improve diabetes outcomes. Peer support and decision support tools each have been associated with improved diabetes outcomes.

Methods: 290 primarily African American adults with poor glycemic control were recruited from the Detroit Veteran's Administration Hospital and randomized to Technology-Enhanced Coaching (TEC) or Peer Coaching alone.

Nurse practitioners as primary care providers within the VA.

We examined the perceptions of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physicians regarding NPs' roles as primary care providers within the Department of Veterans Affairs, thus suggesting possible reasons for the variation of NPs use. NPs and physicians from 7 Veterans Affairs hospitals were surveyed regarding perceptions and concerns about NPs' responsibilities. Quality of care was verified through outpatient services, laboratory results, and medications prescribed for 104,226 hypertensive or diabetic patients.

Nurse practitioners' and physicians' views of NPs as providers of primary care to veterans.

Purpose: To describe NPs' and MDs' perceptions of the role of NPs, the degree of collegiality between professions, and NPs' feeling of acceptance, three relationship components that may affect the acceptance of NPs as providers of primary care.

Design And Methods: A descriptive study including both closed- and open-ended questions plus several Likert-type questions conducted June-August 2004. Our sample included all primary care NPs (87) and MDs (162) within a Midwestern Veterans Health Administration (VHA) region.