Adherence to Therapeutic Regimen for People with Diabetes Through the Implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement Projects – Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is one of the major global health problems, estimated worldwide as one of the four groups of chronic diseases responsible for the high mortality rates in the age group between 30 and 69 years of age. The coordination of care in the management of symptom control and risk reduction, in order to minimize long-term complications, requires an imperative structuring and restructuring of care in order to involve not only the person with diabetes, but also health professionals, and it is pertinent to think about the development of projects for continuous quality improvement programs. Goals: To analyze the scientific evidence about adherence to the therapeutic regimen of people with diabetes as part of a continuous quality improvement project. Methods: Scoping review, with 3 steps: 1) an initial search in CINAHL and MEDLINE; 2) a broader search, using the same keywords and search terms, in the remaining databases of the EBSCOHost platform; 3) search in the bibliographic references of selected articles. The selected time limit covered the period between 2016 and 2021. Results: 21 articles were included; most were retrospective evaluations of continuous quality improvement programs in the area of diabetes mellitus in an outpatient and hospital setting. Conclusions: The implementation of continuous quality improvement programs in the area of diabetes mellitus significantly improves the adherence to the therapeutic regimen for people with diabetes mellitus, promoting self-care, knowledge and experience of their disease.