THE ROLE OF THE DIABETES SPECIALIST TEAM IN THE MODERN MANAGEMENT OF DIABETES MELLITUS: A CALL FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN GHANA

Many chronic illnesses require patient-centred care where behavioural change aimed at dealing and coping with the socio-psychological as well as the physical impact of the disease is emphasized. Diabetes presents such a challenge especially in the developing world where both human and material resources are limited in dealing with this complex disease. Most centres in Ghana and Africa in general, rely on overburdened practitioners who have responsibilities to other acute and chronic illnesses in addition to diabetes care. The Diabetes Specialist Team (DST) has become a tool in overcoming these complexities to improve care and outcomes. They work in a team with specialised and sometimes overlapping skills. Core members include Consultant physician diabetologists, specialist diabetes nurses, podiatrists, dieticians and clinical psychologists. The positive impact of DST is noticed in the aspects of diabetes preventive services, early diagnosis, patient education, medication use, risk factor and complication identification and management, together with in-patient care and management of special groups. Recognising that the needs of persons living with diabetes are under served, coupled with the fact that developing countries are expected to experience the greatest burden in terms of numbers and complications of diabetes, more resources are needed to reverse these expected grim statistics. Efforts should be made to develop and deploy DST as much as possible to provide specialised and dedicated services in the routine management of diabetes at least at the district or municipal health level. Resources are needed to maintain and snowball the impact of this approach.