Caroline Presley, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor,
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Featured in the Session: Expanding Health Access: Translating Science into Practice Through Community-Engaged Approaches
When
Friday, June 5
at 3:45 p.m. CT
Where
Great Hall B (Level 1)
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
What is your presentation about?
Despite evidence-based guidelines for routine comprehensive eye exams for patients with diabetes, screening rates remain suboptimal. This presentation focuses on our work to understand patient and provider perspectives on facilitators and barriers to diabetes eye care and then the application of these findings to inform our work using practice facilitation to improve diabetes-related eye screening rates at safety-net healthcare systems and primary care practices in Birmingham. The long-term goal of this project is to reduce overall rates of blindness and low vision among individuals with diabetes living in Alabama, especially among the African American population.
How do you hope your presentation will impact diabetes research or care?
In this presentation, I hope to highlight the significant opportunities that exist to expand access to evidence-based care for diabetes-related eye disease by providing real-world examples from our partner practice sites.
How did you become involved with this area of diabetes research or care?
As a primary care physician and researcher, my research is focused on how we can best support patients with diabetes in their self-management and how our systems can most effectively deliver evidence-based care. Our team had the chance to get involved with the ADA Eye Health Equity Initiative, funded by Genentech, focused on Birmingham, AL, to try to address some of the gaps in care experienced by the communities we work with.