Migraine is a common chronic headache disorder affecting more than 10% of persons in Western populations. The clinical management of migraine is notable for the variability of diagnostic testing, therapeutic interventions and cost. Standards of care and clinical guidelines for migraine have...

Cardiac rehabilitation has been shown to improve exercise tolerance and symptomatology in patients experiencing angina or heart failure and reduce long term mortality after myocardial infarction, with a good cost-effectiveness ratio. In addition to these `hard' endpoints, cardiac rehabilitation...

The critical role of the patient and family caregivers in disease management is often overlooked or undervalued. Self-management of symptoms, lifestyle, behaviour and adherence to provider recommendations in general often make the difference between success and failure of disease management,...

Interactive voice response (IVR) phone systems offer unique opportunities for disease management. This technology can address challenges in patient care, including how to provide personalised assessment and intervention to large populations in a cost efficient manner. Furthermore, the IVR point...

The effective management of chronic illness has historically been plagued by patient non-adherence to treatment regimens. While disease management initiatives have recently proliferated in an attempt to more effectively manage these chronic illnesses, many of these new programmes have lacked...

Patient education is an essential component of a comprehensive disease state management programme. Proper planning for the patient education component will increase its effectiveness and lead to the building of a virtual bridge between the provider and the patient. A multidisciplinary team...

Correction of lack of insight in psychiatric patients has the potential to improve both the accuracy of diagnosis and the effectiveness of therapy. Specific aspects of insight include `awareness' by an individual of specific symptoms and behaviours, plus the awareness that such symptoms can be...

HIV/AIDS currently affects about 31 million people worldwide. Many infected people do not receive proper care because of a lack of resources or education about current treatment options. Even where treatments are available, they are often not optimal because of poor adherence, adverse events or...

An international literature search was conducted to identify studies published since 1995 examining the effects of diabetes self-management education (DSME) in community settings. Of the 24 publications identified, eight were examined to provide a discussion of intervention methods, the use by...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a recently implemented disease management programme [Asthma Control and Education Program (ACE)] on patient outcomes (clinical and functional) and on resource utilisation in socio-economically disadvantaged (and largely...