Endocrine News Podcast · Endocrine Society

ENP93: Prioritizing Patient Experience in Managing Diabetes

October 16, 2024·27 min·1 clip

The statement focuses on nine themes, but the bigger message is that care gaps still block optimal outcomes.

Aaron Lohr frames the topic as a practical question: why patient experience deserves more attention in diabetes management. He speaks with Dr. Rita Cagliani, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and president-elect of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association, about a recent Endocrine Society position statement on prioritizing patient experiences in diabetes and its complications. Diabetes is vast. Cagliani notes that 90 to 95 percent of diabetes worldwide is type 2 diabetes and that more than 500 million people live with the disease, including about 38 million in the United States. The burden is not the same for everyone. She explains that people differ in presentation and in the complications they develop, and that diabetes affects patients and caregivers in different ways. The episode then turns to implementation. Lohr and Cagliani focus on the gap between what clinical guidelines recommend and what practice can reliably deliver in real-world care. A roadmap helps. Cagliani describes a care roadmap that shows milestones from early prevention to the use of drugs that may help prevent or slow cardiovascular disease, heart failure, and kidney disease. Hypoglycemia gets similar treatment. She walks through a visual dashboard that maps glucose levels to symptoms, starting with neurogenic symptoms around 70, then neuroglycopenic symptoms around 54, and severe manifestations such as coma or seizure around 45. The teaching value is clear. She points to interactive online tools and graphics as a way to support patient education and make symptom recognition more concrete. The writing group also comes into view. Cagliani says the Endocrine Society assembled the group because newer drug classes have improved outcomes, but major gaps remain between guideline ideals and everyday implementation. The statement is meant to bridge that gap. It highlights tools that help clinicians turn evidence into more usable conversations, decisions, and patient-facing education. The conversation stays grounded. It keeps returning to the same practical point: patient experience is not extra, it is part of how diabetes care is selected, explained, and followed over time.

As heard by us

A practical look at treating patient experience as part of diabetes management.

Diabetes care is the focus here, and patient experience is treated as part of the work rather than an extra layer on top. Dr. Rita Cagliani and Aaron Lohr lay out the gap between global diabetes guidance and what clinics can realistically do, then point to tools that make the…

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A measured conversation about making diabetes care fit the person, not just the protocol.

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