Perceived difficulty of diabetes treatment in primary care: Does it differby patient ethnicity

Purpose The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the atti tudes of internal medicine physicians toward treating diabetes in different patient ethnic groups and compared with treating common chronic medical co nditions in primary care. Methods The survey instrument was administered to SS internal medicine phys icians. An e-mail message was sent to each physician with a hyperlink to a site where the survey could be completed. The instrument was a modified, qu antitative 10-point scale designed to measure attitudes regarding the diffi culty of treating diabetes. Results Diabetes was perceived to be more difficult to treat than hyperlipi demia and angina. African Americans with diabetes were perceived to be more difficult to treat than Caucasian patients. Difficulty in treating diabete s was comparable to that for hypertension, arthritis, and congestive heart failure. Physicians were confident about treatment efficacy for diabetes an d changing diabetes outcomes, but not about the adequacy of time and resour ces for diabetes treatment. Conclusions Diabetes was perceived as a difficult disease to treat, African American patients were more difficult to treat, and time and resources wer e inadequate for diabetes treatment. To improve diabetes care, there is a n eed to address these attitudes and concerns of internal medicine physicians .