Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The diabetes management clinics in primary health care centres in Oman aim to provide interdisciplinary diabetes management for their patients. The interdisciplinary management is proved in the literature to have successful outcomes and help the patients to reach their glycemic control fast and safe. Therefore the diabetes management in Oman follows national guidelines, which are based on IDF and AACE guidelines and support the interdisciplinary approach. Despite the presence of guidelines and interdisciplinary team, the diabetic clinics still face several challenges that can affect the health care providers interdisciplinary approach and the diabetic patients’ glycemic goal and cause serious implications.

Materials and methods: A study was conducted in five purposely-selected health care centres in Muscat the capital of Oman to explore the present challenges and their implications on the diabetic service provision. The methodology used was non-participant observations and interviews with members of the team that includes: physician, nurse, dietician, health educator, pharmacist, assistant pharmacist, psychologist and medical orderly.

Results: The results disclosed several challenges related to diabetes management clinic at public primary health care centres. The challenges were related to many factors including health care providers’ shortage and communication, health providers’ interests, knowledge and skills, interdisciplinary service provision, cultural believes and traditions in the community, in addition to diabetes and health awareness in the country.

Conclusion: The study disclosed perceptions of care providers towards challenges related to diabetes management clinics in three different settings in public primary care and within two contexts: health care centre and community. The study identified the findings in the frames of the providers’ tasks and roles during service provision and addressed them at different levels with a lot of involvements, shared responsibilities and implications.