Perioperative diabetes care: room for improving the person centredness

Person centredness is an important principle for delivering high-quality diabetes care. In this study, we assess the level of person centredness of current perioperative diabetes care.

We conducted a survey in six Dutch hospitals, among 690 participants with diabetes who underwent major abdominal, cardiac or large-joint orthopaedic surgery. The survey included questions regarding seven dimensions of person-centred perioperative diabetes care.

Complete data were obtained from 298 participants. The survey scores were low for many of the dimensions of person centredness. The dimensions 'information', 'patient involvement' and 'coordination and integration of care' had the lowest scores. Only half the participants had received information about perioperative diabetes treatment, and approximately one-third had received information about the effect of surgery on blood glucose values, target glucose values and glucose measurement times. Similarly, half the participants had an opportunity to ask questions preoperatively, and only one-third of the participants felt involved in the decision-making regarding diabetes treatment. Most participants knew neither the caregiver in charge of perioperative diabetes treatment nor whom to contact in case of diabetes-related problems during their hospital stay.

Current perioperative diabetes care is characterized by a lack of patient information and limited patient involvement. These results indicate that there is ample room for improving the person centredness of perioperative diabetes care.