Incorporating the Results of Diabetes Research Into Clinical Practice

In our July issue, Dr. Roland Hiss presented the paradigm of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center’s (DRTC’s) approach to the difficulties and opportunities of translating the results of clinical studies into clinical practice (1). As the DRTCs reach their 25th anniversary, it seems appropriate to review their progress in understanding and improving the translation of clinical trials into clinical practice. I have asked the coordinators of translation research of the six DRTCs to briefly summarize their approaches and successes in this area, which follow. It is important to note that the DRTCs began in 1977 in an environment where we knew that there were huge gaps between the results of clinical trials and clinical practice, but we knew little about why those gaps existed, nor did we know how to close them. In large measure our progress in translation research and our successes in translating the subsequent landmark clinical trials into practice are and will continue to be a result of the research conducted by the DRTCs. All of the DRTCs have made vital contributions to this area of research. We present their experiences in alphabetical order. ### Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine. The University of Chicago’s DRTC Demonstration and Education (D&E ) cores have focused on developing provider-, patient-, and systems-level interventions to improve the quality of care and health outcomes of diabetic patients, with a concentration on particularly vulnerable minority and low-income patients. Initially, the University of Chicago aimed to train health care professionals to deliver state-of-the-art diabetes care. To help disseminate these educational programs beyond a regional level, it initiated national collaborative efforts with the American Diabetes Association and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (2,3,4). For example, the American Association of Diabetes Educators published Diabetes Update : From the Basics Forward , which was a detailed …