Primary Care Physicians Play Vital Role in Caring for Diabetes Patients

Previous research has shown that patients without a consistent primary care physician (PCP) have worse outcomes than those who do, but little is known about why this is true.  New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has brought to light the importance of the role of a primary care physician in a population of diabetes patients.  Their findings are published in the December 10, 2012 issue of Diabetes Care.


“We found that primary care physicians provide better care to diabetes patients when compared to other providers in a primary care setting because they were more likely to alter medications and consistently provide lifestyle counseling,” said Alexander Turchin, MD, a physician and researcher in the Division of Endocrinology at BWH and the senior author of the paper.


Dr. Turchin and his research colleagues designed a study to evaluate whether PCP’s provide higher quality care to their patients by paying more attention to prescribed medications, offering lifestyle counseling more frequently or have a higher number of patient encounters when compared to other providers in a primary care setting including a covering physician or another provider such as a nurse practitioner or physician assistant. 

Source: http://www.health.am/db/more/vital-role-in-caring-for-diabetes-patients/

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