Quality improvement programme for diabetes care in family practice settings in Dubai.

A continuous quality improvement programme for the care of registered diabetes patients was introduced in 16 government-affiliated primary health care centres in Dubai. Quality improvement teams were formed, clinical guidelines and information systems were developed, diabetes nurse practitioners were introduced and a team approach was mobilized. Audits before and after the introduction of the scheme showed significant improvements in rates of recording key clinical indicators and in their outcomes. For example, the proportion of patients with glycosylated haemoglobin levels < 7% increased from 20.6% to 31.7% and with LDL cholesterol < 100 mg/dL increased from 20.8% to 33.6%. Mean systolic blood pressure of registered patients fell from 135.3 mmHg to 133.2 mmHg.