Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Historically there are many examples of doctors using language which does not aid joint decision making with patients. At medical school we are taught to find out the presenting complaint rather than the reason for attendance. We write about non-compliance with treatment in the medical records rather than barriers to adherence. Similarly we use language in the Diabetes clinic which can disempower the children and families who attend our clinics.

Aim: We address how the terminology used in reviewing and describing blood glucose measurements affects children’s and young people’s perception of the clinic visit and therefore how they would self manage their diabetes after the clinic.

Method: 1. Multi-disciplinary staff training to avoid using terms such as good/high and bad/low glucose measurements. The preferred language of the clinic is above or below target range. 2. Questionnaire completed by children and young people attending clinic as well as Paediatric diabetes team to evaluate how different language terms affect diabetes management

Results: Both children and young people together with staff in the diabetes clinic agreed that the use of good and bad as descriptors of blood glucose measurements adversely affected perception of clinic outcome.

Discussion: Increased awareness among MDT diabetes staff on using non-judgemental language when discussing diabetes management with children and families can help improve diabetes control.