MANAGING TYPE 2 DIABETES: A WEB SITE FOR PHYSICIANS

Diabetes is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the US, with prevalence increasing steadily over the past four decades. Over 10 million Americans are affected, with a prevalence of 7.8% among adults over age 20 years and 18.8% among those over age 60 (Harris, 1998). More than one in ten health care dollars and one in four Medicare dollars are spent on people with diabetes (DRWG, 1999). Despite the rise in diabetes, training primary care practitioners on diabetes management remains inadequate. This product will be designed to help practitioners evaluate and manage diabetes patients who are misdiagnosed, under- treated or have poor compliance. Our proposed Web site program on type 2 diabetes goes beyond text-book teaching by emphasizing multi- disciplinary, hands-on, problem-based learning. Specific goals include: Developing content base din collaboration with our consultant on scientific literature on type 2 diabetes. Designing and formatting the Web-based program for CME accreditation. Developing a script and storyboard for one section of the program. Producing one Web-based section of the program to reflect quality of the full program. Evaluating feasibility of the program and initiating CME accreditation. Finalizing a production schedule, evaluation plan, and budget for Phase II. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This Web site will be marketed as a CME course to the 82,000 general practitioners in hospital, managed care, and private practice. In addition, it will be marketed to the 128,000 internal Medicine physicians and 64,000 Family Practice Physicians in the US.