Quality of diabetes care in primary health centres in north Al-batinah of oman.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of diabetic care provided in primary health care settings in Oman. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of randomly selected 500 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) attending 6 primary care diabetic clinics in the north Al-Batinah region of Oman from January to December 2010. Nine standards on the quality of diabetes care were audited. RESULTS: The mean age of the sample was 51±13 years, ranging from 15 to 87 years; the majority (61%) were females. The mean duration of DM was 4±3 years, ranging from 1 to 18 years. Seventy-seven percent of the patients attended diabetic clinics at least 4 times per year. Of the 9 assessed diabetic standards, HbA1c was documented in 33% of the patients, body mass index in 12%, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in 40%, urinary albumin:creatinine ratio in 28%, creatinine in 63% and blood pressure (BP) in 96%. Optimal control among the documented indicators was noted in 32, 21, 25, 85, 95 and 19%, respectively. Twenty percent of the patients had their ECGs done while only 39% of the patients had foot examination. No patient had attained control in all of HbA1c., BP and LDL-C. CONCLUSION: There is a gap between the recommended DM care guidelines and current practice with consequent poor quality of care in these patients.

Pilot study on the prevalence of abuse and mistreatment during clinical internship: a cross-sectional study among first year residents in Oman.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate perceptions of being mistreated during internship among first year Oman Medical Specialty Board residents. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Training centres for Oman Medical Specialty Board. PARTICIPANTS: First year medical residents following completion of internship during the study period 2009-2010. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of first year medical residents. RESULTS: Of 58 residents (response rate 84%), 96.6% perceived that mistreatment exists. Among different types of mistreatment reported, verbal and academic abuses were the most common (87.9%), followed by sexual harassment (24.1%), then physical abuse (22.4%). Forty-four (75.9%) residents had advised at least one of their relatives not to join medical school. CONCLUSIONS: Mistreatment of medical interns is an ethical issue challenging the quality of clinical training. Further research is needed to understand factors influencing mistreatment and to draw guidelines to limit such problems.