CHDR Diabetes Telehealth Project (TACM-2)

In honor of Telehealth Awareness Week, we would like to congratulate Dawn Dericke RN, BSN, and Caroline Wallinger, RN, BSN, members of the Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) team, who were the Scientific Winners at the 2019 7th Annual Telehealth Summit of SC for their work entitled: “Impact of RPM on 12-Month A1c Outcomes: An Innovated Approach to Diabetes Management”. #TAW2019

Diabetes Telehealth Project

The CHDR Diabetes Telehealth Project (TACM-2) program in the Center for Health Disparities Research, enables patients to monitor diabetes and blood pressure from their homes, with direct transmission of real-time data for viewing by their primary care doctors.

Since inception, over 1,000 patients have been enrolled in the year-long program, and approximately 700 participants are still actively being monitored across the state of South Carolina.

The average improvement in hemoglobin A1c (a marker of diabetes) for enrolled patients is well over 1% and is sustained over the course of a year.

This technology provides doctors and nurses with the information they need to make treatment recommendations over the phone between office visits. This makes it much easier for patients who live in rural areas, who have transportation issues, or who can’t take off work very frequently to go to a doctor’s appointment.

The device is easy-to-use with no cords and no requirement for patients to have internet or a smartphone.

Center for Health Disparities Research

Established in 2005, the MUSC Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) focuses on research, training, and outreach surrounding racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and rural/urban disparities in health.

The CHDR team works to develop effective ways to eliminate disparities related to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and rural/urban disparities and to improve care for everyone. We also offer a number of training opportunities to grow the next generation of disparities researchers and do outreach to educate the community on finding solutions to the health problems we all face.

They seek to understand and eliminate health disparities and inequities through research, education, training, and outreach.