5. Patient education
Due to the progressive nature of type 2 diabetes, patient education continues to be another important component of the overall treatment plan. Patient education would address equally blood glucose management and the psychosocial challenges of living with diabetes. Educating patients will also help with safe daily care, treatment options, and the benefits and costs of each of therapies. Among many benefits of the patient education, most of the authors agree that the following are some of the main positive effects of educating diabetes patients:
- Improving knowledge, health beliefs, and lifestyle changes.
- Improving patient outcomes – eg, weight, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), lipid levels, smoking, and psychosocial changes such as quality of life and levels of depression.
- Improving levels of physical activity.
