Twitter and Diabetes

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a validated and reliable tool that assesses a person's ability to manage their health, using a 100-point total score scale and four activation levels. The total score ranges from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better outcomes-specifically, higher scores represent better outcomes. The overall score is summed from individual items, reflecting the level of activation and self-management ability. The four levels are:

Level 1 (Score: 0-47.0): Lowest activation, indicating disengagement and lack of confidence in managing health.

Level 2 (Score: 47.1-55.1): Some awareness of self-management but limited skills and confidence.

Level 3 (Score: 55.2-67.0): Actively trying to manage health but inconsistent success.

Level 4 (Score: 67.1-100): Highest activation, indicating confidence and proactive health management.

Initial systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements were obtained from the electronic medical record (EMR). For the majority of patients, final blood pressure measurements (i.e., the 6-month measurement) were obtained in a five to eight month period after enrollment from a documented reading in the the EMR.

For patients who did not have a documented SBP reading in the health system during this time period, we requested that patients either meet our team in person for a manual reading or provide a photograph from their mobile phone of the screen showing their SBP reading from a home blood pressure cuff, pharmacy machine, or doctor's office from outside of our health system.