Objective: To document patients' practices and management of DM2, their satisfaction with diabetes care and their quality of life and functional status.
Design: Anonymous questionnaire completed by 467 patients recruited by 204 GPs in 124 practices in the Perth metropolitan area.
Results: Patients reported an adequate amount of monitoring for stable DM2. However, they lacked awareness of diabetes risk factors and complications from which they already suffered. Some 90% of patients reported a high level of satisfaction with GP care and only 2.4% of patients had more than a moderate degree of functional disability.
Conclusion: Patients have a high level of satisfaction about the diabetes care received from their general practitioner. However, they lack awareness of their risk factors and complications of diabetes. A simple strategy is proposed to improve these deficits and to share the responsibility for diabetes care between patient and doctor.