Knowledge of Proper Exercise for DM Patients among General Practice Doctors of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital

Abstract

          Diabetes mellitus is common disease which can be control by diet adjustment, medical therapy and exercise. Nowadays, diabetic care is usually done special diabetic clinic conducted by doctors and team. Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital has doctors who have just finished the medical degree, work in diabetic care general practitioners.  The knowledge of proper exercise for diabetic patients is necessary for these doctors. Objectives: To assess the knowledge of proper exercise for diabetic patients among general practice doctors of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital. Materials & Methods: Cross-sectional Descriptive study was conducted in 2010. The study group was general practice doctors of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital and the personal interview using questionnaire was performed. Results: Twenty-eight general practice doctors were interviewed. There were 15 females (53.6%) with age range of 24-31 years old. For 3 aspects of knowledge, i.e. to choose the appropriate clothes and shoes, only 50.0% and 42.9% knew, respectively. To examine the vision, skin and urinary system, 50.3%, 7.2% and 7.2% of doctors knew respectively. The majority of doctors (92.9%) did not know that the diabetic patients should keep the pre-exercise blood glucose level more the 100 mg/dL. Moreover, 75.0% of the doctors did not know that the diabetic patients should avoid exercise and should consult the doctors of their pre-exercise blood glucose was more than 250 mg/dL. For the proper time for exercise, to correct hypoglycemic symptom and to avoid soaking the feet in warm water after exercise for the diabetic patients, the doctors knew 39.3%, 57.1% and 57.1% respectively. Conclusion: General practice doctors of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital are lack of some knowledge about proper exercise for DM patient especially about how to manage the DM patients if there is abnormality in pre-exercise blood glucose testing.