Do dietetic patients in a regional area attend a drop-in diabetes outpatient clinic? Proof-of-concept observational study.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Drop-in clinics may be an alternative patient-centred approach to traditional appointment systems. However patient uptake in Allied Health settings is unknown. Given the limited literature, this observational prospective project tested whether patients with diabetes would present to a drop-in clinic, and whether the types and volume of patients would change due to introduction of a drop-in clinic.

METHODS: Alongside a referral-based booked individual appointment service (standard care (SC)), a drop-in clinic was introduced allowing patients to present without appointment. Patient data was collected from medical chart and outpatient appointment systems over 30 months. High category patient criteria included HbA1c>7.5%. Data was compared between drop-in and SC groups using chi-squared and ANOVA tests.

RESULTS: Of 150 eligible patients, more drop-in patients (n = 76) presented over 15 months than SC patients booked in the 15 months before (n = 41) or 15 months after (n = 33) the drop-in clinic commenced. Drop-ins were 12 years older and less likely to have Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) than SC patients (p < 0.001), however the proportion of high category patients was similar across groups (54%, p = 0.731). SC patients were similar before and after drop-in clinic commencement (51%F, baseline HbA1c 9.5% ± 2.2, 34% clinic non-attendance, P = 0.159-0.671).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients attended a drop-in diabetes outpatient clinic. This included high category patients. The weekday drop-in service may appeal to older patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, but not to younger patients or patients with T1DM. The types, volume, and attendance rates of SC patients was similar before and after commencement of the drop-in clinic.