I was recently reading this article about diabetes care Deadlock in @MBT. Very insightful. Diabetes care definitely does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. In my practice I’ve come across multiple patients who have trouble being compliant with medication or sticking to a regime. This holds true especially in cases like:
- Denovo diabetes: people newly put on medication have trouble being compliant.
- Geriatric patients: who already have a lot of medicines to take. The complex treatment regimes can confuse them sometimes.
- Patients who take more time to come to terms with their diagnosis and the fact that they might be dependent on medication for a long time
It can sometimes be difficult to get the patient to accept the reality of the diagnosis and make them be compliant.
What can be done to provide the best care to our patients:
- Access the patient. Understand their fears and doubts about the condition and counsel them accordingly, especially with Denovo cases or patients not expecting the diagnosis
- Counsel them about how to keep a check on the sugar levels. Explain to them about the devises they can use to keep a check. Especially to the geriatric patients.
- To patients having frequent sugar levels fluctuations or old patients with device frustration, explain the benefits of CGM devices.
- To patients not wanting to start medication, explain risks of fluctuating sugars and counsel about importance of lifestyle changes.
- You can also advise them to use Pill boxes or tablet checklists to increase compliance
- Do not be rigid in your treatment approach. If a patient is genuinely unable to continue too many oral medicines or has difficulty keeping track, try switching the medication or advising combination medication.
Attached is the article below.
https://www.medboundtimes.com/medicine/individualized-diabetes-care-dr-reece
Kindly share your thoughts on how to individualize treatment so patient can be comfortable while being compliant.