Community Health Improvement

Baylor researchers are collaborating with community members and organizations to define community health issues, interventions and research methods to test research hypotheses.

With a three-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas worked with HealthTexas Provider Network's Office of Community Health and Central Dallas Ministries to measure the effectiveness of a volunteer health care delivery program. Project Access works to reduce emergency department visits by patients who have historically high rates of ER visits.

One result of the study has been the creation of a community-based chronic disease management program for patients with diabetes at Central Dallas Ministries-Community Health Services.

Future community health improvement research will study the effectiveness of chronic disease management for diabetic patients enrolled in Project Access and its impact on blood glucose control, quality of life, complication rates, hospital and emergency department utilization and re-admissions. Find more information on a research study at Baylor.