Dr Yehuda Handelsman Discusses Increasing Compliance Through Patient Buy-In

One of the best ways to increase compliance when treating diabetes is to ensure patients fully understand the importance of treatment, according to Yehuda Handelsman, MD, FACP, FACE, FNLA, medical director and principal investigator at the Metabolic Institute of America. However, this can be difficult for physicians with a limited amount of time for patient visits.

Transcript (slightly modified)

Physicians cite compliance as a common barrier to diabetes treatment. What can they do to improve compliance?

It’s one of the toughest questions, because, you know, we see the patient [for a short amount of time]—I am a consultant, so I may see them longer, let’s say half an hour, 40 minutes, 35 minutes. Many of the primary care physicians dealing directly with patients may see them only for 12 minutes, 15 minutes, occasionally 10 minutes. So we don’t have that much time to see what the patient is doing in the 3 to 6 months that we don’t see them in between visits.

I think, again, it’s making sure that the patient understands how simple it is to use and how important it is for them to get the glucose under control. Getting the patients buying into the treatment, not to just drop it on them. Discuss why we do it, make sure that they understand and they are willing to adopt that treatment way. So it’s not just for them to think that I think it’s good for them, but for them to actually believe, yes, it is good for us and therefore we ought to do that.