Laura MC Welschen

More than half of the patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients are diagnosed with one or more comorbid disorders. They can participate in several single-disease oriented disease management programs, which may lead to fragmented care because these programs are not well prepared for coordinating care between programs. Comorbid patients are therefore at risk for suboptimal treatment, unsafe care, inefficient use of health care services and unnecessary costs. Case management is a possible model to counteract fragmented care for comorbid patients. It includes evidence-based optimal care, but is tailored to the individual patients' preferences.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have an increased risk to develop severe diabetes related complications, especially cardiovascular disease (CVD). The risk to develop CVD can be estimated by means of risk formulas. However, patients have difficulties to understand the outcomes of these formulas. As a result, they may not recognize the importance of changing lifestyle and taking medication in time. Therefore, it is important to develop risk communication methods, that will improve the patients' understanding of risks associated with having diabetes, which enables them to make informed choices about their diabetes care. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an intervention focussed on the communication of the absolute 10-year risk to develop CVD on risk perception, attitude and intention to change lifestyle behaviour in patients with T2DM. The conceptual framework of the intervention is based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Self-regulation Theory. A randomised controlled trial will be performed in the Diabetes Care System West-Friesland (DCS), a managed care system. Newly referred T2DM patients of the DCS, younger than 75 years will be eligible for the study. The intervention group will be exposed to risk communication on CVD, on top of standard managed care of the DCS. This intervention consists of a simple explanation on the causes and consequences of CVD, and possibilities for prevention. The probabilities of CVD in 10 year will be explained in natural frequencies and visualised by a population diagram. The control group will receive standard managed care. The primary outcome is appropriateness of risk perception. Secondary outcomes are attitude and intention to change lifestyle behaviour and illness perception. Differences between baseline and follow-up (2 and 12 weeks) between groups will be analysed according to the intention-to-treat principle. The study was powered on 120 patients in each group. This innovative risk communication method based on two behavioural theories might improve patient's appropriateness of risk perception and attitude concerning lifestyle change. With a better understanding of their CVD risk, patients will be able to make informed choices concerning diabetes care. The trial is registered as NTR1556 in the Dutch Trial Register.

Drug related problems (DRPs) are common among elderly patients who are discharged from the hospital and are using several drugs for their chronic diseases. Examples of drug related problems are contra-indications, interactions, adverse drug reactions and inefficacy of treatment. Causes of these problems include prescription errors and non-compliance with treatment. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of medication review and cognitive behaviour therapy of discharged patients by community pharmacists to minimize the occurrence of drug related problems.

Many patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) are not able to reach the glycaemic target level of HbA1c < 7.0%, and therefore are at increased risk of developing severe complications. Transition to insulin therapy is one of the obstacles in diabetes management, because of barriers of both patient and health care providers. Patient empowerment, a patient-centred approach, is vital for improving diabetes management. We developed a web-based self-management programme for insulin titration in T2DM patients. The aim of our study is to investigate if this internet programme helps to improve glycaemic control more effectively than usual care.

The aim of this thesis was to provide more insight into disease management of patients with type 2 diabetes with special attention for patient empowerment.

In patients with type 2 diabetes, the risk for cardiovascular disease is substantial. To achieve a more favourable risk profile, lifestyle changes on diet, physical activity and smoking status are needed. This will involve changes in behaviour, which is difficult to achieve. Cognitive behavioural therapies focussing on self-management have been shown to be effective. We have developed an intervention combining techniques of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Problem Solving Treatment (PST). The aim of our study is to investigate if adding a combined behavioural intervention to managed care, is effective in achieving changes in lifestyle and cardiovascular risk profile.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose has been found to be effective for patients with type I diabetes and for patients with type 2 diabetes taking insulin. There is much debate on the effectiveness of self-monitoring of blood glucose in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes who are not taking insulin. A systematic review of 6 randomised controlled trials comparing self-monitoring of blood glucose with standard care, self-monitoring of urine glucose, or both showed that self-monitoring of blood glucose may be effective in improving glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin. There was scant data on patient-related outcomes, such as quality of life, well being and satisfaction. Therefore, more large long-term studies of high quality are needed.

Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) has been found to be effective for patients with type 1 diabetes and for patients with type 2 diabetes using insulin. There is much debate on the effectiveness of SMBG as a tool in the self-management for patients with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin. The objective of this review was to assess the effects of SMBG in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who are not using insulin. Studies were obtained from searches of multiple electronic bibliographic databases supplemented with hand searches of references of retrieved articles. Date of last search: September 2004. We included randomised controlled trails investigating the effects of SMBG compared with usual care and/or with self-monitoring of urine glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes who where not using insulin. Included studies should have used at least one of the following outcome measures: glycaemic control, quality of life, well-being, patient satisfaction, or hypoglycaemic episodes. Two reviewers independently extracted data from included studies and assessed study quality. Data from the studies were compared to decide whether they were sufficiently homogeneous to pool in a meta-analysis. Six randomised controlled trials were included in the review. Four trials compared SMBG with usual care, one trial compared SMBG with self-monitoring of urine glucose and there was one three-armed trial comparing SMBG with self-monitoring of urine glucose and usual care. Because of the differences in patient characteristics, interventions and outcomes between the studies, it was not possible to perform a meta-analysis. The methodological quality of studies was low. Two of the six studies reported a significant lowering effect of self-monitoring of blood glucose on HbA1c. However, one of these studies had a co-intervention with education on diet and lifestyle. There were few data on the effects of other outcomes and these effects were not statistically significant. From this review we concluded that self-monitoring of blood glucose might be effective in improving glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin. To assess the potential beneficial effects of SMBG in these patients a large and well-designed randomised controlled trial is required. This long-term trial should also investigate patient-related outcomes like quality of life, well-being and patient satisfaction, and provide adequate education to the patient to allow SMBG to be effective.