My favourite podcast is the Therapeutics Education Collaboration
Mike Allan is part of the podcast team, and is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta,
He leads a group at the Alberta College of Family Physicians that produces “Tools for Practice“, a biweekly article summarizing medical evidence with a focus on topical issues and practice modifying information.
You can access an archive of Tools for Practice at the ACFP website, and you can be added to the email distribution list (for free) by sending an email request to
A recent Tools for Practce focused on the evidence surrounding HbA1C targets.
The bottom line
While many patients can safely attain an A1c at or just below 7%, older patients, those with long-standing diabetes, multiple co-morbidities, and/or high risk of hypoglycemia, reasonable targets are perhaps 7-8% or even higher.
This reminds us of the difference between a ‘Measure for Improvement’ and the importance of having individual targets for each patient.
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