Are the resources adoptive for conducting team-based diabetes management clinics? An explorative study at primary health care centers in Muscat, Oman.

AimThe aim of this study is to explore the perceptions among primary health center staff concerning competencies, values, skills and resources related to team-based diabetes management and to describe the availability of needed resources for team-based approaches.

BACKGROUND: The diabetes epidemic challenges services available at primary health care centers in the Middle East. Therefore, there is a demand for evaluation of the available resources and team-based diabetes management in relation to the National Diabetes Management Guidelines.

METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 26 public primary health care centers in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Data were collected from manual and electronic resources as well as a questionnaire that was distributed to the physician-in-charge and diabetes management team members.FindingsThe study revealed significant differences between professional groups regarding how they perceived their own competencies, values and skills as well as available resources related to team-based diabetes management. The perceived competencies were high among all professions. The perceived team-related values and skills were also generally high but with overall lower recordings among the nurses. This pattern, along with the fact that very few nurses have specialized qualifications, is a barrier to providing team-based diabetes management. Participants indicated that there were sufficient laboratory resources; however, reported that pharmacological, technical and human resources were lacking. Further work should be done at public primary diabetes management clinics in order to fully implement team-based diabetes management.