When Is AACE Going to Update Type 2 Sources?

The AACE has removed the AACE/Takeda Link

On September 27, 2011 I blogged about AACE/Takeda web site being operational. This was a good thing because it would provide us with reliable sources for diabetes information. Now we are about five months later and no additional sites have been added to the original list. This makes me wonder what is happening at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

I had thought that this could be an excellent site to give people much good information about diabetes and give people comparisons for many of the snake oil web sites full of false information. Apparently, the AACE does not agree. Why else would it take so long to post sources that are reliable? Even the addition of a few sites per month or even every other month should not be asking too much. Unless they have to completely approve a site beyond the committee of experts.

If they are not going to approve any more web sites, why will they not say so? First, I would doubt that they have exhausted the reliable sites. There are many sites that I seriously doubt will able to satisfy their stringent guidelines, but this still leaves many that can meet their requirements.

If there are no more sites that meet their requirements, certainly they have a host of web sites that could fit under some category that lists the weakness of the sites. To have waited five months from the announcement of the site to its debut and now another five months without any additions to the original list of approved sites is very disheartening.

If you are looking for good sources, I suggest joining Google+ and adding Dr. Bill Quick (Bill Quick) to your circle. He is listing a “D” site at least five days a week and they should be reliable. He does cover the types of diabetes in the sites he lists, so it is not a listing for one type of diabetes only.

Another good source of information on Google+ is Scott Strumello. He posts links to much good information and especially for type 1 readers. He covers a variety of topics and does include the occasional tidbit for type 2.

Therefore, if you are like me and tired of the pace of the AACE in posting approved web sites, explore and read carefully. There are many good sites available that AACE and their snail's pace may get around to listing sometime in the distant future.

Is It All Hype and A No Show?

On May 4, 2011 when I wrote about the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) which will be cosponsoring the new online resource with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, I had hopes that this would come to fruition and be something that would benefit patients, caregivers, as well as some physicians.

It was suppose to be available online in June. I don't think I missed anything, but were they talking June of 2012 or 2013? Today is the first of July 2011, and unless I am blind, I have not found anything resembling a site for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals as mentioned in the press release about this.

Now granted, the information was to be vetted by AACE diabetes experts, so maybe they found nothing that met the standards. Not that I can't be surprised, but certainly there are some websites that are acceptable – maybe.

Of course if the websites must follow the mantra of low fat, whole grains, and a lot of this nonsense, there may not be many sites. Then we have “The Type 2 Talk” which is sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, in partnership with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and its educational arm – the American College of Endocrinology (ACE). Maybe this will be the only vetted site.

I doubt this, as I sure Takeda Pharmaceuticals would have something to say about such a listing. To which I would add that as a patient information site, it may work for some, but to me is a rather lack luster and uninforming site.

So AACE, what is it going to be? A lot of hot air hype, or will you step up to the plate?
Is it going online June 2011 (gone – past history), 2012, or later? I have questions – but you are providing no answers and no vetted sites.

Will We Gain An Advantage Over Diabetes Misinformation?

This is something that many should watch for in the following months. It could be a huge advantage for us or for some of us it may be a bust. It will depend on whether the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist (AACE) follows their own recent guidelines allowing for individualized goals or if that will not be a part of this and individualized goals will be ignored for safety reasons.

We will need to watch for when this will happen on the AACE web site. The information that will be presented will be the AACE, cosponsoring the new online resource with Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The launch date is to be sometime in June. At present the emphasis seems to be for Type 2 diabetes. If this can fill the gap in education needed by people unaware of hypoglycemia mentioned in my last blog, then it will have succeeded quite well.

According to the spokesman, this will be a valuable resource for patients and health professionals as it will direct them to sources for new research and patient education. Whether the site will allow both sides to be seen by patients will remain to be seen.

The purpose of the new web site is to direct patients to educational resources that provide credible information about diabetes. It will not be there to provide a new patient information about diabetes, but assist them in avoiding unreliable information. It will be available for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to aid all in forming a foundation for treatment and care decisions.

The sites they will be directed to will be vetted by AACE diabetes experts and the sites will be evaluated for quality and accuracy in the information it provides to patients and health professionals. The experts say that about 90 percent of people get their information from the internet and that on good days, 20 percent at most is reliable.

They also state that 90 to 95 percent of diabetics never see a specialist. So this is a resource of for thousands of physicians who provide healthcare to people with Type 2 diabetes. They want the online resource to help these healthcare professional to give them the most current guidelines for Type 2 diabetes treatment and methods for establishing individualized care plans for their patients with diabetes.

There is a lot to be done and it is going to be interesting to see the outcome of this effort. We do need this, if nothing more than a way to start eliminating many of the “cure” sites and sites that propagate much misinformation. It will also be interesting to see of the media picks up on this and does any research to improve their reporting.

Read the article here.