Self-Management, Patient Compliance, and the Physician

Two-hundred ambulatory private office patients with IDDM were surveyed to determine the acceptability of home blood glucose testing, and the factors which permit the physician to predict which patients will use this adjuvant to self-management. The method proved acceptable to 80% of those with GODM and 63% of the MODM patients. Predictability factors, a contingency patient-physician contract, and a protocol for urine and blood testing in conjunction with a treatment algorithm are discussed.