Effects of nurse telesupport on transition between specialized and primary care in diabetic patients: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background According to the Global Diabetes Plan, a unified health system with preventive and educational strategies is essential to proper diabetes care and primary settings should be the main site of care. In Brazil, there is limited access to outpatient hospital diabetes services, while primary-care diabetes support is underutilized. Telemedicine can be a useful adjunct to support discharge of stable patients with type 2 diabetes to the primary care setting. In this paper, we present a randomized controlled trial (RCT) protocol designed to evaluate the effects of telehealth support for stable type 2 diabetes patients discharged from hospital outpatient diabetes clinics. Methods We designed a RCT. Patients with stable type 2 diabetes (glycated hemoglobin