How to Run the Counselor's Office for Diabetics and Address Problems Awaiting Solution

• Published in: JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 672 - 675
• Main Authors: NAKAMOTO, Emi, SAEKI, Masami, FUJIMOTO, Natsumi, ISHIDA, Kazufumi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE 2005
• ISSN: 0468-2513; 1349-7421
• DOI: 10.2185/jjrm.54.672

Diabetic patients must keep on exercising self-management for life in order to prevent diabetic complications and hold in check the progress of the disease. Moreover, fighting against the disease is an integral part of everyday life. Depending on the condition, patients may have to switch over to another treatment method in a short space of time. Such patients accept the alteration without proper understanding of it, although physicians thought they had given full explanations to the patients. There are some patients who cannot adequately communicate with their doctors. They blame the exacerbation of the condition on their poor self-management, get depressed and eventually driven to desperation. Tired out of long years of the life under medical treatment, diabetics may want to have someone to talk to or to turn to for advice. Doctors and nurses ought to understand their feelings, listen to them, give proper instruction, and review it later. For this purpose, medical institutions should have a counselor's office easy of access by patients and their families.