A SIMPLE MNEMONIC HELPS MULTIPURPOSE DIABETES WORKERS ASSESS CAUSE OF POOR GLYCEMIC CONTROL

The diabetes epidemic has hit us hard, especially in underserved regions where there is a paucity of diabetologists, endocrinologists and total lack of qualified diabetes educators to handle the disease. (1) The high patient: doctor ratio means that adequate diabetes education cannot be carried out in many centres. This also means that many of the potentially correctable or preventable causes of high blood glucose continue to exist in the patient population, because of lack of, or in adequate, or inappropriate counseling. To counter this shortage of qualified diabetes care personnel (1), multipurpose diabetes workers have been trained at an endocrine centre in north India (2,3,4). Armed with basic medical knowledge (and a little bit of common sense), they are able to diagnose the cause of poor control in many diabetic patients. This strategy helps in utilizing the waiting time of the patient, improving the quality, (and quantity) of counseling and reducing the endocrinologist’s time in taking a history. The efficiency of a diabetes consultation increases with their active role. The health -related behaviour of the patient, and his immediate family is also modified favorably with this intervention.