Impact of an Evidence-based Electronic Decision Support System on Diabetes Care

Feasibility and Impact of an Evidence-based Electronic Decision Support System on Diabetes Care in Family Medicine: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of the use of an evidence-based decision support system (EBMeDS) in daily Belgian family medicine and to study the effectiveness of EBMeDS use on improving diabetes care.

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of the use of an evidence-based decision support system (EBMeDS) in daily Belgian family medicine and to study the effectiveness of EBMeDS use on improving diabetes care.

Specific research questions are:

• Does family physicians use the EBMeDS system in daily practice?
• Does the use of the EBMeDS system by family physicians leads to an improvement in diabetes control compared to the control group?

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients are 18 years or older.
• Patients have their electronic medical records registered by one of the included family physicians. Medical records are not centralized in Belgium. Patients are free to choose any physician, and can even see several physicians at the same time. To encourage a patient to have their medical records held by a single physician, 'Global Medical Records' werr introduced a decade ago. In return for a registration fee, patients can choose a main general practitioner who keeps their central medical records. This registration is a requirement for patient inclusion in the trial. Patients with 'Global Medical Records' are reimbursed a larger proportion of the consultation fees by the health insurance fund.
• Patients have an established diagnosis of diabetes at the baseline time point of the study (identified as having (1) an ICPC (International Classification of Primary Care) code of diabetes or (2) a prescription for a diabetes-specific or (3) the necessary labo results to confirm diabetes)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnancy
• Cognitive impairment