Abstract

IMPACT OF PATIENT EDUCATION IN IMPROVING THERAPEUTIC OUTCOME FOR GERIATRIC DIABETIC PATIENTS IN TERMS OF HBA1C

Saerah Simon*, Sharon C. Thomas, Priya Joy, Abhilash Kumar B. and Jiji Alfred

ABSTRACT

Effective patient education gradually improves knowledge, attitude, and practices leading to better glycemic control and is widely accepted as an integral part of comprehensive diabetes care for affected individuals and their families in primary care settings. It also improves the patient compliance towards medicines. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of patient education in improving therapeutic outcomes of insulin therapy in geriatric patients in terms of HbA1c. Effective counselling improves knowledge, attitude, and practices, particularly with regard to lifestyle modifications and dietary management, culminating into better glycaemic control that can slow down the progression of diabetes and prevent downstream complications. So targeted individualized training in insulin taking is associated with improved glucose control and greater patient satisfaction with therapy. In this study, patient counselling showed significant increase from the baseline compared to controls, accompanied by significant reduction in HbA1C of cases at the end of the study compared to the control.

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus (DM); Insulin therapy; Theraputic Education.