Guidelines for monitoring diabetes - by patient or carer

Monitoring diabetic control is important for all patients.

Several factors will influence the method and frequency of diabetic monitoring:

• patient motivation - perhaps the most important factor; push some patients too hard and they may stop monitoring.
• familiarity with the illness - new diabetics will need to monitor their illness more frequently until they develop confidence about their illness and how life factors affect their control
• intercurrent illness - whenever a patient feels ill or develops an illness they should increase their diabetic control monitoring.
• change in usual daily routine - patients who have a day when they have more exercise or when they eat at different times of the day will need to monitor their control more carefully.
• severity and type of illness - insulin dependent diabetics need to be more aware of their illness to avoid hyoglycaemia - brittle diabetics will need tighter control
• understanding of problem by patient - monitoring control is quite complex and so may require help from carers