While working as a district nurse in a GP practice, the author and a community pharmacist performed a small audit to establish the use of self-monitoring of blood glucose within the practice population. The results indicated that 79 patients were prescribed blood glucose test strips directly in contrast to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2015) guidance. The results were then shared within the practice to initiate education and a education in unnecessary testing. The following article describes the audit in more depth and explores some of the available evidence on blood glucose monitoring in patients with non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetes.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained adult cardiac arrhythmia with over one million people diagnosed with AF in the UK (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2014; Information Services Division [ISD] Scotland, 2015; Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2015; Stats Wales, 2015). This is the second article of two that discusses the need to improve the management of AF in primary care. ‘Part 1’ considered case identification and the assessment and management of AF-related stroke risk. ‘Part 2’ addresses optimum heart rate control and how this might be achieved, patient education and utilising audit tools to improve the quality of AF management in primary care.
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