Assessment of home glucose monitoring system in primary health care system; where are we?

Introduction: Self Monitoring Blood Glucose system is one of the glycemic control assessment tools. There are many barriers limiting its proper usage. This system is based on three components; availability of the glucometers system, operating skills and knowledge to interpretate its results. Objectives: To assess the components of self monitoring blood glucose among patients with type 2 diabetes attending primary health care service and its relation to glycemic control. Methodology: Cross sectional study was designed; one hundred and seventy eight (178; male 72, female 106) were randomly selected from our diabetic registry. All selected patients had type 2 diabetes. Data was collected through a designed questionnaire. The three components of the glucose self monitoring system were assessed. Selected nurses were trained to help patients who could not fill out the questionnaire by themselves. Data was collected and analyzed by SPSS Vers 14. Results: One hundred and seventy eight (178) subjects; (40.04% male vs 59.56% female). Eighty eight (88 subjects) were illiterate (49.4%) and most of them were female (38.9% male vs 56.6% female). In the male group only 77.7% had glucometers while in the female group only 52.8% had glucometers (P value <0.0001). In the male group only 61.1% knew how to operate the SMBG while only 39.6% of female group could (P value <0.00001). In the male group only 33.3% stated that they knew the targets of glucose monitoring while it was 68.8% in the female group (P value <0.00001). Only 55.5% of male subjects had the three components of proper home glucose self monitoring compared with 56.1% of female subjects (P value 0.036). Among males with full SMBG components HbA1c was 9.4(+/-) 1.9% and 8.1(+/-) 1.7 among females with full SMBG components (P value 0.002). Conclusion: Lack of proper structured education presented by educators and illiteracy may explain the bad glycemic control in our study sample. Further large studies were recommended.