Check-In Calls
Description
This tool consists of scripts that can be used for regular telephone check-ins with patients. The scripts use customized, branching logic designed to:
- Monitor how well the patient is managing their diabetes and identify actionable diabetes issues.
- Ask questions about recent blood sugar and blood pressure readings, symptoms of high or low sugars, problems with taking or filling medications, sick days, and new foot problems.
- Offer suggestions to the patient and Care Partner about how they can address any issues identified during the call.
- Provide customized feedback to empower the patient and encourage collaborative action planning with their Care Partner.
How healthcare professionals can use this tool
- This script was originally programmed to be delivered via automated phone calls. It could be adapted to other automated systems, such as SMS (texting) or smartphone apps.
- Professionals could read the script out loud when calling patients to check in with them between medical visits or diabetes education sessions.
- Providers could incorporate the tips from the Care Partner messages during in-person healthcare appointments or phone calls that include the Care Partner.
Click on the document title below to download example material.
Check-In Call Content
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How Check-In Calls were used in the original CO-IMPACT Program
Patients received an automated call lasting 10-15 minutes every other week. During the call, the patient was prompted to report their diabetes self-management activities and data such as recent blood sugar and blood pressure readings, their current supply of prescribed medications, and any foot problems.
Responses were automatically tailored to provide positive feedback or identify potential issues and provide issue-specific recommendations. When an issue was identified, the patient was asked if they wished to work on addressing the issue over the following two weeks, and if so, they were encouraged at the end of the call to make an action plan with their Care Partner.
Following the call, the system generated a summary of data reported by the patient, issues identified, issues the patient wished to work on, and advice on how the Care Partner could help the patient with the issue. These tips were drawn from information also included in the CO-IMPACT handbook. This summary was automatically emailed to the Care Partner.
Recommendations from original CO-IMPACT Health Coaches
- Identify what modes of communication (mail, email, text, recorded phone message) the Care Partner prefers. Some Care Partners in our program used email but many did not.
- Allow patients to put calls on hold for a few weeks, or until patients returned to actively working on their diabetes regimen. Some patients grew bored with the automated phone calls as the script did not change over several months. Consider adapting the script to change content or frequency of calls in response to the pattern of patients’ responses.
- Proactively follow-up with the patient if they miss three consecutive calls. They may have a new phone number, a new schedule, or they may have accidentally blocked the system number.
