Tools

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) offers tools and materials to assist with implementing its recommendations on optimal blood glucose testing frequency. Designed to support decision-making, the tools provide summaries of key information. To make these tools relevant to different audiences, CADTH can tailor specific tools to individual needs and settings. Contact us if you would like our assistance in tailoring any of these tools to meet your unique needs as a health care provider, policy-maker, or consumer.

To help decision-makers evaluate optimal use initiatives, CADTH has also developed a series of generic tools that can be applied across health topics. These generic tools include an audit and feedback guide, an evaluation framework, and academic detailing templates.

Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG) and Insulin Use Tools

• Café Casebook
  The methodology and impact of a series of Café Scientifique events across Canada to exchange the knowledge generated by CADTH’s study into self-monitoring of blood glucose by people with type 2 diabetes not using insulin
• Residential Care Pamphlet on Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose
  A readable, educational tool outlining key messages from CADTH’s work on self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and tailored to the needs of family members and caregivers of those living in residential care.
• Guide for Type 2 Diabetes and Monitoring Your Blood Sugar — an easy-to-read pamphlet for people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin
• Project Highlights Brochure – highlights of the clinical and economic evidence for self-monitoring of blood glucose
• Optimal Therapy Newsletter – summary of key clinical messages on the prescribing and use of blood glucose test strips for self-monitoring of blood glucose, designed to support decision making by health care professionals
• Quick Reference Prescribing Aid  – contains key messages and cost information about self-monitoring of blood glucose
• Alternate Prescription Pad - provides recommendations for patients with type 2 diabetes not using insulin, guidance on self-testing, and lifestyle tips for managing diabetes
• Clinical Flow Sheet - a tool maintained in a patient's chart that is designed to help clinicians collect and organize individual patient data at each appointment, and detect trends in these data over time
• Self-Management Action Plan - a tool that supports diabetes self-management education, which a clinician and patient can use to identify, achieve, and maintain self-management goals
• Using Evidence in the Real World - a didactic presentation that provides a basic overview of evidence-based decision making, using CADTH's work on self-monitoring of blood glucose and insulin analogues as examples
• Guide to Starting and Adjusting Insulin for Type 2 Diabetes - a fold out information card providing health care professionals with guidance on how and when to start insulin
• Interventions for Optimizing Therapy in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus: A Literature Review

Published Articles

• Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes (Therapeutics Letter Issue 81, April-June 2011)
• Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose Levels in Persons with Type 2 Diabetes Not Requiring Insulin: Routine Use is Not Recommended (Editorial Commentary, Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2011)
• Evaluation of a Nova Scotia Diabetes Assistance Program for People with Type 2 Diabetes (Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2011)
• Perspectives and experiences of health care professionals and patients with diabetes regarding self-monitoring of blood glucose in Canada (Canadian Pharmacists Journal, September 2010)
• Reflections on self-monitoring of blood glucose: Why do we recommend the things we do? (Commentary, Canadian Pharmacists Journal, September 2010)
• Efficacy of self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus managed without insulin: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Open Medicine, May 2010)
• To test or not to test? Self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes managed without insulin (Commentary; Open Medicine, May 2010)
• Utilization and Expenditure on Blood Glucose Test Strips in Canada (Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2010)
• The Cost of Diabetes: A Game ChangerAdd to My Files (Editor’s Note; Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2010)
• Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Not Using Insulin (Commentary; Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2010)
• Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Not Using Insulin: Leaving No Cornerstone Unturned (Commentary; Canadian Journal of Diabetes, March 2010)
• Cost-effectiveness of self-monitoring of blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes (Canadian Medical Association Journal, January 2010)
• Glucose testing challenged among diabetics who don’t use insulin (Globe and Mail, December 2009)

Related Information:

• Background on Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose (Report and Findings-at-a-Glance)
• Media Contacts and Key Links
• Frequently Asked Questions