Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Over 94% of total mortality in Georgia is attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Alhought various NCDs guidelines and protocols have been developed and approved in Georgia, their implementation at the primary healthcare (PHC) level has not been successful. The AIM of the study was to assess PHCs approaches to prevention and management of diabetes.

Methods: General practitioners (GPs), family and village doctors were involved in a cross-sectional survey with two-stage random sampling design, that was conducted in two regions of Georgia: Stage 1 – sampling frame consisted of all PHCs/village ambulances of the selected regions; Stage 2 – randomly selected family and village doctors from each of the selected facility. Study tool: Self-Completed Questionnairebased on the Package of Essential NCDs (PEN) interventions for PHC. Mean score for knowledge for diabetes (DM) management and control was calculated and compared among professional groups (family vs village doctors) and regions (Tbilisi vs Kakheti) using one-way Analysis of Variance.

Results: In total, 293 doctors (mean age 54.3 ± 12.0 years) participated in the study. Participants were more experienced in management and control of DM than other NCDs. About two thirds of respondents had good knowledge on management and control of DM, they managed to response correctly to 80% of questions. Mean score for knowledge of DM management and control was almost similar among family and village doctors (P = 0.31), as well asbetween the regions (P = 0.01). Although over 80% of physicians have positive attitudes towards prevention and management of DM, smoking was the only status of patients’ that was ‘always’ determined bydoctors (80% of doctors; 95% CI = 72.6%– 82.4%); less than 50% (95% CI = 40.2%–51.7%) of doctors collected information about body mass index (BMI); approximately 50% (95% CI = 41.6%–53.3%) of them spent no more than 20 min in a typical visit of a patient with high glucose and⁄or high cholesterol levels.

Conclusions: Family/village doctors’: 1. knowledge on DM and its risk factors is moderate, 2. management practices are relevant but not standardized, 3. attitudes towards DM screening andprevention are positive. These findings highlight the needs of effective interventions among family/village doctors to ensure that they are actively involved in prevention and management of DM.