["Diabetes is for me ...": the health care workers perspective]

To analyze the representations and meanings of diabetes from the health workers perspective through an ethnographic approach.

Participants who attended a national conference on diabetes care were asked to write a narrative responding to the question: "For me, diabetes is...". Narratives were qualitatively analyzed by two researchers following the principles of content analysis. Nvivo software was used to organize and code the data.

Of the 147 conference participants, 140 narratives were analyzed: 86 written by nurses, 54 by physicians. Six themes emerged: The disease which summarizes the biomedical and biopsychosocial definitions of diabetes; The patient's illness experience, which describes the impact of diabetes on the patients lives; The clinician's experience, where clinicians fear the impact (actual or potential) of diabetes on their families or themselves; The clinician-patient relationship, where the importance of a good patient-clinician relationship and the related emotions are described; and The social and healthcare system, which describes the healthcare system as an aid as well as an obstacle in patients' care.

Despite some academic description of diabetes, our results showed that health care workers, especially nurses, have a profound comprehension of the patient illness experience that sometimes leads to the identification with patients. The relationship and patient education were described as a complex and challenging area of practice for both professions. Training on relational and emotional skills could improve the patients care.