Authors (including presenting author) :
Tse TK(1), Leung TF(1), Lau WH(1), Chan BY(1), Leung SH(1), Chen XR Catherine(1) and Li YC(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Family Medicine and General Outpatient Clinics, Kowloon Central Cluster
Introduction :
Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common chronic condition associated with multiple complications. According to our previous studies, Ethnic Minorities (EM), particularly South Asians, have a much higher prevalence of T2DM, and their glycaemic control are much poorer than their Chinese counterpart. In addition, according to 2016 HK Population By-census, the EM population had increased by 70.8% compared to 2006. To meet the growing service demand as well as to improve the quality of care to EM patients, EM Diabetic Session (EMDS) was set up in Yau Ma Tei Jockey Club General Out-patient Clinic (YMTJC GOPC) in April 2021 to provide culturally tailored health care interventions.
Objectives :
(1) To evaluate T2DM EM patients’ satisfaction towards the service delivery at EMDS, including doctor consultation, nurse intervention and service arrangement;
(2) To assess T2DM EM patients’ empowerment on understanding the DM disease nature and management.
Methodology :
This is a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Poorly controlled T2DM patients from the EM groups were arranged to follow up at EMDS since April 2021. The service was delivered one session per week at YMTJC. The clinic was attended by experienced doctors in handling EM patients and was parallel with a nurse for post-consultation counselling. Interpreter service had been pre-arranged for patients with communication difficulty. Culturally tailed ethnic diet counselling were provided within the same session if needed. All EM patients attended the EMDS at YMTJC GOPC from 05/2021 to 10/2021 were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire and the data were reviewed.
Result & Outcome :
Totally 53 EM T2DM patients were included during the review period. Among them, 46 patients completed the survey, with response rate of 86.8%.
Their mean age was 51.5 ± 11.6 years, and about two-thirds (n=31, 67.4%) were male. Concerning their ethnicities, most were Nepalese (n=28, 60.9%), followed by Indians (n=11, 23.9%), Bangladeshis (n=4, 8.7%), Pakistanis (n=2, 4.3%) and Thais (n=1, 2.2%).
Overall satisfaction rate towards the EMDS service was 95.1% (39/41). Breakdown data showed that most patients were very satisfied with doctor’s consultation, particularly towards the disease management (93.3%, 42/45) and case explanation (91.3%, 42/46). Most patients appreciated the service arrangement, including appointment booking 93.3% (42/45), diabetes nurses care on health advice and education (93.2%, 41/44) and referral to allied health care (84.2%, 32/38).
Patients’ overall perception on the clinic’s effectiveness to improve their diabetic care was as high as 92.5% (37/40). After attending the clinic, most patients agreed that their understanding on DM care was improved (80.0%, 36/45). They were better empowered on diet control 82.2% (37/45), exercise regimen 80.0% (36/45), drug treatment 91.1% (41/45), and about their own health condition 84.4% (38/45).
This survey demonstrated high patient satisfaction rate among minority DM patients towards the service of EMDS provided at a GOPC under HA. Further study will be conducted to explore the clinical effectiveness of EMDS on the chronic disease control among T2DM minority patients managed in primary care.
