LOGAN — In 2019, local physician Dr. Thomas Clark was given a grant to pursue research into a study of transitional care for diabetics.
On KVNU’s For the People program earlier this past week, Dr Clark talked about the inspiration for him to go after the grant.
He realized he could name ten risk factors for people who get readmitted to the hospital.
And he said through a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) he felt that he could figure out what’s going on with individuals and help them avoid that difficult transition.
“I’ve had lots of cockamamie ideas that people nod their heads and say ‘yeah, that sounds good’. But when I mentioned this and said I think we can have better outcomes, lower cost and the patients will be more satisfied with what they’re getting with this, I actually had two or three different groups lining up to pay for it, which was very nice,” explained Dr. Clark.
So, he said the motivation came from someone trying to create something way too complicated and that was not patient-centered. He talked more about hospitals using CGM’s.
“There are some hospitals now that are waiting for this study to be done that are just randomly throwing CGM’s at patients, not following to see if they’re the right person for it. I have the ability with these CGM’s, I can look at them on my phone 24/7, and they have the availability to call me during the first two weeks after they leave from the hospital anytime.”
There is still much work to be done, he said it’s amazing to see patients sent home with insulin but no needle to put on the insulin pen, or patients not understanding which medicine is for what, so they just stop taking it.
Dr Clark is trying to change that.