Quality of Diabetes Care in Primary Health Centres in North Al-Batinah of Oman

Abstract

Objective: To assess the quality of diabetic care provided in primary health care settings in Oman.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of randomly selected 500 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) attending 6 primary care diabetic clinics in the north Al-Batinah region of Oman from January to December 2010. Nine standards on the quality of diabetes care were audited.Results: The mean age of the sample was 51±13 years, ranging from 15 to 87 years; the majority (61%) were females. The mean duration of DM was 4±3 years, ranging from 1 to 18 years. Seventy-seven percent of the patients attended diabetic clinics at least 4 times per year. Of the 9 assessed diabetic standards, HbA1c was documented in 33% of the patients, body mass index in 12%, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in 40%, urinary albumin:creatinine ratio in 28%, creatinine in 63% and blood pressure (BP) in 96%. Optimal control among the documented indicators was noted in 32, 21, 25, 85, 95 and 19%, respectively. Twenty percent of the patients had their ECGs done while only 39% of the patients had foot examination. No patient had attained control in all of HbA1c., BP and LDL-C.Conclusion: There is a gap between the recommended DM care guidelines and current practice with consequent poor quality of care in these patients.

Patients’ and Nurses’ Perceptions of Diabetes Self-Management in Oman: A Qualitative Study

“…Approximately 463 million adults in the world live with diabetes mellitus (DM), and the number is estimated to reach 629 million by 2045 [ 1 ]. Diabetes is a rapidly increasing health problem in developing countries such as Oman [ 2 ]; in particular, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is an emerging public health issue for the country [ 3 ]. The reported prevalence of diabetes among Omanis is 15.7% and, along with other chronic diseases, causes the death of 187.75 people per 100 thousand in Oman each year [ 4 ].…”

Active screening for diabetic foot — assessment of health care professionals’ compliance to it

“…Also one study in Nigeria showed that 96.4% of symptomatic (neuropathy) and 97.3% of asymptomatic patients with DM had never had foot examination [4]. Al-Shafaee and co-authors assessed nine standards on the quality of diabetes care in primary care diabetic clinics in the north Al--Batinah region of Oman and found that only 39% of the patients had foot examination [5]. Information about quite good implementation of best practice guidelines recommendations comes from Australian podiatrists study [6] but authors mentioned that the character of the study limits its interpretation.…”