Does patient education facilitate diabetic patients' possibilities to reach national treatment targets? A national survey in Swedish primary healthcare.
OBJECTIVE
To describe how patient education is arranged in Swedish primary healthcare (PHC) and to assess whether the type of patient education and individual goal setting have an impact on diabetic patients' possibilities of reaching national treatment targets.


METHODS
A Swedish national survey.


METHODS
Swedish PHC.


METHODS
Data from 485 primary healthcare centres (PHCCs) and 91,637 diabetic patients reported by the PHCCs to the National Diabetes Register in 2006.


METHODS
Description of how patient education is arranged, HbA(1c), body mass index, cholesterol, blood pressure, and physical activity.


RESULTS
Of the PHCCs that reported how they performed the individual counselling, 50% reported checklist-driven counselling and 8% individualized counselling based on patients' needs. A total of 105 PHCCs reported that they arranged group education. Of these, 67% used pre-planned programmes and 9% individualized the programme to the patients' needs. The majority of PHCCs (96%) reported that they set individual goals (HbA(1c), blood pressure, lipids, and lifestyle). A minority of the PHCCs (27%) reported that the patients were involved in the final decision concerning their goals. Individual goal-setting facilitated patients' possibilities of reaching treatment targets. Goal-setting, list size of PHCCs, and personnel resources explained a variance of 2.1-5.7%. Neither individual counselling (checklist-driven or individualized to patients' needs) nor group education had an impact on patients' possibilities of reaching the targets.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study indicates that improvement is needed in patient education in PHC to facilitate diabetic patients' possibilities of reaching national treatment targets.
Adolfsson
Eva Thors
ET
Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. eva.thors-adolfsson@ltv.se
Smide
Bibbi
B
Rosenblad
Andreas
A
Wikblad
Karin
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003376:Counseling; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003927:Diet, Diabetic; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin