A Decision-Support Software to Improve the Standard Care in Chinese Type 2 Diabetes

BACKGROUND: To develop a decision-support software according to the Chinese Diabetes Society guideline in order to improve the standard care in type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Firstly, we developed a decision-support software for healthcare professionals. It was an independent software on a tablet to record the data of patients and treatments given by their physicians. A major function of the software was to remind doctors when and how they should implement the standard care as recommended by the Chinese Diabetes Society guideline. Secondly, we compared the baseline data of standard care including statin and aspirin usage with data from a previous “3B study” to see whether there was an improvement of these standard cares. Finally, we further compared the data during four quarters of the whole year to evaluate whether there was a continuous improvement. RESULTS: During the first quarter, 27,291 cases and 27,352 cases were collected with complete information about statin and aspirin usage, respectively. The percentage of patients treated with statins and aspirin in our study was significantly higher than that reported in the 3B study (59.6% vs. 19.9% and 59.8% vs. 18.5%, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences among the four quarters for the percentage of the patients who were taking statin or aspirin (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our decision-support software has been shown to be effective in continuously improving the standardization of comprehensive treatment in type 2 diabetes.