Patient Consensus

Steven V. Edelman, MD,University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California, Kathryn Britton, CPC, MAPP Theano Coaching Service, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

This article is about giving individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) a voice to tell caregivers what they want from them. It is about increasing the understanding that caregivers have for patients with DM to create a stronger and more effective health care relationship.

Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering people living with DM and their loved ones to take an active role in their own health care. This includes informing patients of the new treatments, medications, technologies, and therapies for DM and its complications, and motivating them to take control of  their DM. At the 7th Annual TCOYD Conference and Health Fair in Raleigh, North Carolina, we conducted a workshop with individuals living with types 1 and 2 DM. The goal was to develop the first of its kind—a Diabetes Patient Consensus Statement. Workshop participants included people of multiple ethnicities and a wide range of ages, with a duration of DM ranging from 1 month to 25 years. We drafted the following Consensus Statement based on the points the group reported to the entire conference. It is our intention to distribute this document to as many physicians as possible around the country.

We hope that when caregivers read this TCOYD Patient Consensus Statement, they take it seriously and consider it with open minds. The best outcomes originate from effective partnerships between caregivers and their patients.

To our knowledge, an agreement such as this has never been attempted before, and it is our belief that this TCOYD Patient Consensus Statement will eventually strengthen the caregiver–patient bond and lead to better DM management.