Medical student project supports funding for new young adult diabetes clinic
Bendigo Health has recently received funding to establish a new telehealth Young Adult Diabetes clinic, thanks in part to data prepared by Michaela Ryan, a medical student on a Scholarly Intensive Placement (SIP) through Monash Rural Health.
During her SIP, Michaela gathered and presented supporting data to Bendigo Health, showing that when young adults transition from the paediatric clinic to the adult clinic, they lose many of the support structures found in the paediatric clinic. These supports include easy access to social workers, diabetes education and dietetics.
Data presented by Michaela showed that telemedicine is an effective tool for young adults transitioning from paediatric to adult care to maintain contact with supporting health services.
Head of Endocrinology at Bendigo Health, Dr Jessica Triay, had been aware of high rates of clinic non-attendance and high hospital admission rates in the young adult age group of people with diabetes but needed data to confirm whether a dedicated service for this group was indicated. She was aware of the different additional support structures in place for the paediatric services and challenges of transitioning to adult services for a number of individuals.
“To confirm our clinical experience and clearly tell the story, we needed to get some data to show what was happening so that we could construct a business case to facilitate a dedicated additional clinic time for us (Endocrinologists) together with Diabetes Educators to see people in a more effective way. Not only did Michaela’s project confirm that we have a high clinic dropout rate for our young people with diabetes, it also showed that telehealth was the most consistent way of engaging with this group.”
During her placement, Michaela received great support from her supervisors and was excited to see her work lead to changes in the services available to young adults with Diabetes.
“There is a big gap between a project and real-world changes. This SIP was a quality improvement project at a local hospital, so I felt that this gap was significantly decreased. I feel validated in my ability to interpret my results and make recommendations. The fact that funding was given so quickly is surreal and makes me feel proud of the work I’ve done.”
Although the project undertaken by Michaela was a quality improvement project, the skills she gained on her placement will put her in a better position to undertake research projects in the future.
“I am more secure in my research skills, and this experience has instilled in me with confidence to continue in research; maybe there will be publications in the future.”
According to Dr Jessica Triay, the benefits of having SIP students go both ways.
“Having a SIPs student with the team is a great way for students to get a useful insight into some of the challenges we face in a clinical environment and for the provider to get some excellent data to support meaningful changes to service delivery!”