Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction & Objective: A vital but often disregarded pillar of diabetes management is effective patient education. The objective of this survey was to identify gaps in the existing patient education resources & to understand which patient services can help boost adherence to requisite lifestyle & therapy.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January & March 2023, involving clinicians managing type 2 diabetes mellitus across India. Responses were collected, with prior informed consent, using a structured digital questionnaire. Data was analysed & expressed as descriptive statistics.

Results: This survey involved 903 clinicians pan India, of whom ~70% belonged to 30-50 years age group, had postgraduate degree in medicine & had private consulting practice. Clinicians opined that besides in-clinic counselling; ‘physical counselling’ (60%) & ‘initial physical counselling followed-up on virtual platform’ (35%) were the most effective. When enquired about the major gaps in existing patient education content, clinicians chose- ‘content not being tailored as per regional/local preferences’ (55%), ‘lack of content simplicity’ (54%) & ‘quality of content’ (39%). Most clinicians (84%) rated availability of patient education content in regional languages to be important/very important. The key challenges observed by clinicians in the existing dietary education resources were ‘diet charts not tailored to local region’ (48%), ‘content unavailability in regional languages’ (46%) & ‘lack of qualified dietitians’ (40%). Most clinicians mentioned that complimentary services were extremely/very useful {lab tests (86%), dietitian (83%) & gym (64%)} in helping to increase patient adherence to lifestyle & therapy.

Conclusion: This survey reveals that for patient education resources-quality, regional customization, simplification & availability in regional languages are important requisites. Furthermore, complimentary services including dietitian, gym & lab tests may help improve patient adherence to lifestyle & therapy.