The University of Florida and Shands Jacksonville have been recognized for their efforts to improve diabetes tracking, prevention and care in the North Florida region.
Healthy Jacksonville Diabetes Coalition honored the hospital and its community health centers with a Promising Practice in Diabetes Prevention and Care distinction. The award is based on demonstrated achievements in evidence-based outcomes for diabetes care.
In order to be considered, applicants had to show that an aggressive and successful approach was being used to decrease the number and severity of diabetes cases among patients. Alexanderia Burwell, ARNP, a UF Jacksonville Healthcare, Inc., clinical disease management provider, provided guidelines as well as data that supported measurable outcomes, latest curriculums and interventions. Due to the hospital’s recognized advances in patient tracking through extensive use of registries, Burwell said providing this information was not very difficult.
The award highlights the success of UF and Shands Jacksonville’s Diabetes Rapid Assistance Program (DRAP), which began in 2006 at the UF Commonwealth Family Medicine and Pediatric Center under the auspices of the hospital-formed Jacksonville Urban Disparity Institute (JUDI). With hard work and dedication from its advocates, DRAP grew to encompass about half a dozen community health centers associated with JUDI.
The purpose of DRAP is to proactively handle diabetes among the underinsured and uninsured by educating patients as well as treating the disease. Those with diabetes or elevated risk levels are monitored closely while they are shown how to better regulate medication, eat properly and exercise more to achieve better results, particularly fewer medical emergencies.
"I would say we’ve had better results than I originally expected," said Eric Stewart, MD, a UF assistant professor of family medicine and one of the founders of DRAP. "We have eliminated much of the disparity, and there has been a lot of positive response from the community."
Out of 14 regional applicants, about half won various awards involving diabetes. Only a few, including UF and Shands Jacksonville, shared the top honor. It is one of several distinctions the program has received since its inception, a few of which Burwell has been in charge of applying for.
She said having the program recognized for its success is always satisfying.
"Any distinction for doing positive work with patients is a big deal," Burwell said. "These are best practices, and I think when you do what you’re supposed to do and it works, it’s icing on the cake to have people recognize that."
Stewart agrees.
"We’ve had many national distinctions, but it’s nice to receive an award from our peers here in Duval," Stewart said. "It’s often said that people can see your value more from a distance than up close, but in this case we have local recognition that this is a great program."
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