Assessment of Quality of Diabetic Care in Teaching Hospitals in Ethiopia: In Comparison to International Guidelines

Comprehensive high quality of care is critical in preventing diabetic complications and improving quality of life. This needs compliance with guidelines and focused therapy. There is no data in Ethiopia evaluating the quality of diabetes care using standard guidelines (American diabetic association and international diabetic federation) as a reference.

A cross-sectional study was conducted at Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College (YHMC) to assess the process and outcome quality indicators of diabetic patients. Data were collected from outpatient clinics between May and July 2022 over a period of 3 months. Diabetic patients with at least one year since diagnosis were selected using systematic random sampling. Both the process and outcome of diabetic quality care indicators were measured and compared with standard guidelines (ADA and IDF). Both descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used for data analysis. The P-value <0.05 was used as statistical significance.

About 250 diabetic patients with a mean age of 53±15 were included. The majority were type 2 diabetes mellitus (83.2%). HbA1c was determined for 128 (51.2%) patients with the recent mean value of 8±1.6. Only 52 (40.6%) of patients achieved target HbA1c. Annual comprehensive feet examination, urine albuminuria test, and retinal examination were done for 54 (21.6%), 52 (20.8%), and 122 (48.8%), respectively. Single marital status (AOR = 5.76; 95% CI; 1.02-32.36) P = 0.047, determining HbA1c level at least twice a year (AOR = 6.27; 95% CI; 2.18-17.73) P = 0.001, and medication adherence (AOR = 7.1; 95% CI; 2.61-19.01)P = 0.001, were significantly associated with good glycemic control.

The overall quality of diabetic care was found suboptimal both in process and outcome quality indicators. Thus, awareness creation about quality indicators for caregivers, compliance with guidelines, wise resource utilization, and cooperation with different stakeholders like hospital management teams, and government officials is needed.