Preconception CarePromoting Preconception Care and Diabetes Self-Management Among Reproductive-Aged Women With Diabetes

Usual care includes: 1) no specific materials to promote medication reconciliation, reproductive planning, or patient education on diabetes self-management within the context of preconception care, 2) variable physician preconception counseling without any EHR notifications or counseling support; and 3) no specific patient support or prompts to promote healthy behaviors post-visits.

Our PREPARED strategy will utilize health information and consumer technologies to 'hardwire' preconception care and promote diabetes self-management among reproductive-aged, adult women with T2DM in primary care. PREPARED will leverage electronic health record technology at clinic visits to: \[1\] promote medication reconciliation and safety, \[2\] prompt provider preconception counseling, and \[3\] deliver low literacy print tools to reinforce counseling and promote diabetes self-care. Post-visit, text messaging will be used to: \[4\] encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Patients will receive a print MedRec tool, generated via the EHR, which includes a list of medications prescribed according to the patient record. Patients are asked to review this list, to add/remove drugs to reflect actual use, to note how they are taking each medication, and to describe any concerns.

During the clinic visit, an automated, EHR alert will notify the provider that the patient is a woman of reproductive age with T2DM and should receive counseling on the importance of glycemic control, the use of contraception until glycemic control is achieved, and the benefits of folic acid.

When patients leave an encounter, they will receive a patient-friendly educational material (a.k.a. the PREPSheet) that reviews potential risks of pregnancy in the context of T2DM and highlights the importance of: 1) achieving glycemic control through diabetes self-care, 2) using effective contraception until glycemic control is achieved and pregnancy is desired, 3) discussing medication use with a provider if planning or becoming pregnant, and 4) taking folic acid daily to reduce increased risk of neural tube defects.

Within \~5 days of their index clinic visit, intervention patients will begin to receive daily, unidirectional text messages to reinforce diabetes self-care behaviors.