Recommendations for self-care activities
Because diabetes self-care activities can have a dramatic impact
on lowering glycosylated hemoglobin levels, healthcare
providers and educators should evaluate perceived patient
barriers to self-care behaviors and make recommendations
with these in mind. Unfortunately, though patients often
look to healthcare providers for guidance, many healthcare
providers are not discussing self-care activities with patients
[61]. Health care providers should begin by taking time to
evaluate their patients’ perceptions and make realistic and
specific recommendations for self-care activities. Some
patients may experience difficulty in understanding and
following the basics of diabetes self-care activities. When
adhering to self-care activities patients are sometimes
expected to make what would in many cases be a medical
decision and many patients are not comfortable or able to
make such complex assessments. Furthermore, these
requirements or modifications should be specific for each
patient and should be altered depending on the patient’s response
[25]. It is critical that health care providers actively
involve their patients in developing self-care regimens for
each individual patient. This regimen should be the best
possible combination for every individual patient plus it
should sound realistic to the patient so that he or she can
follow it [62]. Simultaneously, health care providers should
fully document the specific diabetes self-care regimen in
the patients’ medical record as it will facilitate providerpatient
communication and help in assessment of compliance.
Also, the need of regular follow-up can never be
underestimated in a chronic illness like diabetes and therefore
be looked upon as an integral component of its long
term management.