Involving patients in their diabetes care plan
Published: 19 Nov 2019
As part of the “Year of Care” pilot programme under the National University Hospital’s (NUH) Division of Endocrinology, patients with diabetes are involved in the clinical process and actively make adjustments to their own diabetes care plan.
Recognising that treating diabetes is not as simple as advising a patient to cut down on sugar intake, this diabetes-care model takes into consideration the patient’s lifestyle and empowers patients to take more ownership of their health.
Under this new approach, patients receive a simplified version of test results before their doctors’ appointments to help them identify areas where they are at higher or lower risk, and enable them to make changes to their lifestyle or eating habits accordingly.
Assistant Professor Yew Tong Wei from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine and Consultant in NUHS Division of Endocrinology is one of the doctors involved in the pilot programme. He shared that the programme has enabled patients to take control of their lifestyle habits and choices.
“We doctors are the medical experts, but the patients are the experts in their own lives,” he added.
Professor Tai E Shyong, from NUS Medicine’s Department of Medicine and Senior Consultant at NUH’s Division of Endocrinology, also noted: “Living well with diabetes requires the active participation of patients.”
A year into the pilot programme, patients’ conditions were found to have generally improved – the proportion of patients who achieved an ideal target for their glucose control increased by two and a half times.
More than 200 patients have undergone the “Year of Care” programme and this will be expanded to selected polyclinics over the next three years, benefiting up to 6,000 patients. Find out more here.
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