Diabetic patient adherence to pathology request completion in primary care

Area of Science:

• General Practice
• Chronic Disease Management
• Patient Adherence

Background:

• Limited research quantifies patient non-adherence to pathology requests for chronic disease monitoring.
• Lack of timely pathology results hinders accurate patient assessment and treatment planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of non-adherence in completing pathology requests among diabetic patients.
• To identify patient-reported reasons for non-adherence to pathology testing.
• To compare patient reasons with healthcare provider preconceptions.

Main Methods:

• Recruited patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from three diverse general practices.
• Collected demographic data, pathology request adherence status, and reasons for non-adherence.
• Compared patient-reported reasons with medical staff perceptions.

Main Results:

• Confirmed general practitioner perceptions of poor patient adherence, with non-adherence rates reaching 31%.
• Identified forgetfulness, time constraints, poor health literacy, and language barriers as primary reasons for non-completion.
• Highlighted a discrepancy between patient-reported reasons and medical staff preconceptions.

Conclusions:

• A significant proportion of diabetic patients do not prioritize monitoring due to a potential lack of understanding of its importance.
• Further research into point-of-care testing may improve adherence in areas with low disease management engagement.
• Findings provide insights for practitioners to address local barriers to pathology request completion.