Design and Development of Communication Skills Training in Diabetes Care for General Practitioners in China

Abstract

General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in diabetes care in primary care as the "gatekeepers" of population health. The management of diabetes can slow its progression, reduce complications and improve patient outcomes, which requires effective communication and collaboration between patients and their doctors. GPs with good communication skills can help to build long-term care relationships with diabetes patients and help them develop effective self-management skills. This paper summarizes the design and development of diabetes communication skills training for GPs guided by research team with multiple theoretical frameworks, including evidence-based findings from systematic review, experiences and ideas of diabetes patients communicating with GPs based on qualitative studies, prioritization of training content for patient-doctor communication in GPs captured by mixed-methods research, in order to provide new ideas for high-quality diabetes management in primary care and inform the design of training programmes for GPs based on evidence and medical education frameworks.

Keywords

• diabetes mellitus|communication skills|inservice training|training design|general practitioners