Abstract
Objective
To compare patients’ perceptions of injection-related problems with clinicians’ estimates of those problems. Methods Data were obtained through 2 Internet surveys, one of US adults self-identified as taking insulin to treat diabe- tes and the second of health care professionals who treat people with diabetes who inject insulin, including pri- mary care physicians, endocrinologists, and diabetes educators.
Results
A substantial majority of patients would like to reduce the number of injections they take each day; almost half said that they would be more likely to take their insulin injections regularly if a product were available to ease the pain. A much smaller proportion of patients reported that (1) injections were a serious burden, (2) they were dissatisfied with the way they took insulin, (3) injections had a substantial negative impact on qual- ity of life, (4) they skipped injections they should take, or (5) injection-related problems affected the number of injections they were willing to take. Half of the patients said they mentioned injection-related problems to their provider; a similar number reported that their providers had not given them a solution to problems with injection- related pain and bruising. Although awareness of prod- ucts to ease injection pain was high among providers (especially diabetes educators), this information was not effectively transmitted to patients.
Conclusions
Patients should be encouraged to discuss their injection- related concerns, and providers should regularly ask about injection-related problems. Providers should offer patients information about tools to reduce injection- related worries, preferably by having them available to show and demonstrate
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