Resumo em Inglês:

The Declaration of the Americas (DOTA) recognizes the severity of diabetes in the Region of the Americas and the commitment of the governments of the Region to implement strategies and actions that can reduce the socioeconomic cost of diabetes and improve the quality of life of those who suffer from the disease. Given that, there is a need to incorporate diabetes education as an indispensable medical service in order to achieve the active participation of patients in controlling and treating the disease. The DOTA Education Committee prepared this document to specify the conditions and standards that a patient diabetes-education program should meet.

Resumo em Inglês:

This piece summarizes a document prepared by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent working group in the United States of America. The Task Force document presents an analysis of the effectiveness of seven interventions designed to improve diabetes control. Two of the seven are focused on health-care systems (disease and case management), and the five others are directed at persons with diabetes (diabetes self-management education delivered in the home, the workplace, community gathering places, recreational camps, and the school). After reviewing 70 studies on these seven interventions, there was sufficient evidence to recommend four of them: 1) disease management in health-care systems, 2) case management in health-care systems, 3) diabetes self-management education in community gathering places, for adults with type 2 diabetes, and 4) diabetes self-management education in the home, for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Resumo em Inglês:

This piece summarizes two aspects of the "Clinical Practice Recommendations 2001" developed by the American Diabetes Association: 1) caring for diabetic women in the preconception period so as to reduce the rates of congenital malformations and of spontaneous abortions, and 2) guidelines for caring for pregnant women with gestational diabetes. For the first aspect, the model of care that is described consists of four primary elements: 1) educating the patient concerning the interactions among diabetes, pregnancy, and contraception; 2) education on diabetes self-control; 3) the medical care provided and the laboratory tests performed by medical personnel; and 4) assistance from a mental health professional when needed to reduce stress and improve compliance with a diabetes treatment plan. For the second aspect there is an analysis of: 1) guidelines for diagnosing gestational diabetes, 2) a set of obstetric and perinatal considerations, and 3) therapeutic strategies to apply during the pregnancy and on a longer-term basis.