A simple and promising tool to improve self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with diabetes.

Aim: To examine patient formation of implementation plans, a volitional strategy, and its influence on self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG).

Methods: A randomized experimental-control design over a 2-week time period was used. The study population was diabetes patients with HbA1c >7% and requiring insulin therapy. Patients were recruited from a southeastern Michigan healthcare system. A self-administered intervention was designed to assist patients to formulate plans to perform SMBG. The primary outcome measure was SMBG rates. Three control groups were used to control for testing effects. Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA at a significance level of 0.05. SMBG was measured using a 2-week diary and two recall measures.

Results: There were 402 patients with diabetes recruited for the study. Analyses indicated that making implementation plans increased SMBG rates as assessed by a diary and two recall measures. The patients in the experimental group checked their blood sugar up to 7.77 times more than the control groups (sig<0.05) over a 2-week time period as measured by the diary.

Conclusions: Patient behavior can be impacted by using an implementation planning tool. This technique can help improve patient self-monitoring behavior.