Type 2 Diabetic Patient-Centered Care

Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has increased worldwide including Thailand. Management of diabetes should be considered biological and psychosocial. Patient-centered care was applied in the present study. Patient-centered care is a process interaction between the clinician and the patient. It refers to the clinician’s behavioral skill in the consultation. Patient-centered care customizes seeking and accepting the patient’s ideas, seeking and giving recognition and encouragement, treatment recognition and decision making in response to the individual patient’s perspective. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of patient-centered care on type 2 diabetes mellitus. Their fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), eating and exercise behavior, compliance, symptoms of diabetes as well as satisfaction were compared before and after the intervention. Material and Method: The quasi-experimental design (controlled before and after intervention)) was conducted among 78 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who regularly attended the outpatient clinic, Family Medicine Department, whose FPG was more than 150 mg/dL, non pregnant, could communicate well in Thai and had no other complications. The patients were required to follow on Wednesday morning every 6-10 weeks for one year. A group of 6-10 patients was appointed in each visit. The six interconnecting components of patient-centered care were applied. (1) The patients and the researchers were introduced t