American Diabetes Association releases diabetes guidelines for primary-care providers

HealthDay News — An abridged version of the 2015 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes has been produced for primary-care practitioners. The guidelines were published in Clinical Diabetes.

The condensed guidelines, produced by researchers from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the ADA Primary Care Advisory Group (PCAG), specifically focus on evidence-based recommendations for primary-care providers (PCPs).

Patient-centered communication that incorporates patient preferences, addresses cultural barriers to care, and assesses literacy and numeracy was identified as a key strategy for improving diabetes care. Care should be aligned with components of the Chronic Care Model to facilitate productive interactions between a prepared proactive practice team and informed, activated patients, emphasized the researchers.

The report focuses on diabetes care concepts, which include patient centeredness, diabetes across the life span, and advocacy for patients with diabetes. Particular attention is devoted to the foundations of diabetes care, including lifestyle management; glycemic treatment and therapeutic targets; prediabetes; the diagnosis and treatment of micro- and macrovascular complications; and use of insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes.

“Keeping up with the ever-changing guidelines can be very hard for busy primary-care providers, who are not merely treating one condition, but rather many conditions every single day,” PCAG Chair Jay Shubrook, DO, said in a statement.

“The abridged Standards are a second-level synthesis of the most important diabetes recommendations.”