WEDNESDAY, Feb. 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- In an Endocrine Society position statement published online Feb. 21 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, guidelines are presented to help health care providers (HCPs) recognize the perspectives of people with diabetes (PWD) in order to achieve optimal disease management.
Rita R. Kalyani, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined gaps in the management of diabetes and its complications and identified tools needed for HCPs and PWD to address these challenges.
Priority targets for addressing challenges for PWD include effective communication during clinical interactions at diagnosis and through the disease course; addressing the emotional and psychosocial needs of PWD; navigating available therapeutic options and explaining complex regimens to support medication taking; and the use of telehealth in the appropriate clinical setting. The authors describe tools that are available to help HCPs, including guided communication styles for facilitating effective communication; guidance on preferred and nonpreferred language; clinical screening tools for assessing psychosocial conditions and directories to assist in referrals for mental health providers; patient education resources to help navigate aspects of living with diabetes, including pharmacotherapies; and checklists to determine the appropriateness of telehealth use for individual patients.
"In the ever-changing landscape of diabetes and its management, both health care providers and people with diabetes will continue to need new and evolving tools to help address the common challenges they face," Kalyani said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical and other industries.