Barriers associated with poor control in Spanish diabetic patients. A consensus study

Background: Delphi technique allows developing a multidisciplinary consensus to establish solutions.

Aim: To identify barriers and solutions to improve control in patients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2).

Methods: An observational study using the 2-round Delphi technique (June-August 2011). A panel of 108 experts in DM2 from medical and nursing fields (primary care providers and specialists) from different regions completed via email a questionnaire with 41 Likert statements and 9 scores for each one. Level of agreement was assessed using measures of central tendency and dispersion. We analysed commonalities/differences between the two groups (Kappa index and McNemar chi-square).

Results: Response rate: 65%. Degree of agreement: 63.4% (95% CI 48.7-78.1%) in medicine, and 78.1% (95% CI 65.4-90.8) in nursing (p > 0.05). Overall level of agreement: Kappa = 0.43, (χ(2) = 2.5 p > 0.05). Regarding non-compliance with therapy, it improves with: the information to the partner/family/caregiver, patient education degree in diabetes, patient motivation and ability to share and agree on decisions with the patient. Clinical inertia improves with: motivation degree of healthcare professionals and the calculation of cardiovascular risk; and gets worse with: the shortage of time in consultation, absence of data in medical record, border high limits measurements accepted as normal readings, lack of a treatment goals, lack of teamwork (Physician/Nurse), scarcity of resources and lack of alarm systems in the electronic medical record on goals to achieve.

Conclusion: The participants achieved an agreement in interventions in non-therapeutic compliance and clinical inertia to improve DM2 control.