Medical Education to Improve Diabetes Care and Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients

Evaluation of the Impact of In-Person and Telemedicine-Based Medical Education on Diabetes Care and Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients

This clinical trial aims to evaluate whether a structured medical education strategy can improve the quality of care provided to hospitalized patients with diabetes or hyperglycemia. Internal medicine residents from four university hospitals in southern Brazil are assigned to two groups: an intervention group receiving a 30-minute online lecture and 30 days of educational follow-up via WhatsApp®, and a control group receiving no additional training.

The primary goal is to assess changes in physicians' knowledge about inpatient glycemic control. Secondary goals include evaluating the quality of insulin prescriptions, rates of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, and hospital length of stay.

Hospital hyperglycemia is associated with increased morbidity, length of stay, and hospital costs, especially when not properly managed. Many internal medicine teams lack adequate training on glycemic control in hospitalized patients, and guidelines are not consistently followed in clinical practice.

This multicenter, randomized, open-label trial is designed to evaluate whether a telemedicine-based educational intervention can improve medical knowledge and clinical management of inpatient hyperglycemia. Internal medicine residents from four university hospitals in southern Brazil are randomized by clinical team into two groups: one receives a 30-minute online class and continued support via WhatsApp® for 30 days; the control group receives no intervention.

Medical knowledge is assessed using a validated questionnaire before and after the intervention. Secondary outcomes include the appropriateness of glycemic monitoring and insulin prescriptions, frequency of hyper- and hypoglycemia and hospital length of stay.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Internal medicine residents from clinical teams at the participating university hospitals in southern Brazil.
• Residents assigned to clinical teams during the intervention month.
• Provided informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Residents on vacation during the intervention month.
• Residents from teams supervised by endocrinologists.
• Refusal to participate in the study.