Investigating the condition of medical counseling and some of clinical aspects for fasting in holy month of Ramadan from the perspective of diabetic and hypertensive patients

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Introduction: Although fasting has many benefits for health, it can be dangerous for patients. So it is necessary that physicians have adequate information about clinical aspects of fasting and they should advice patients. Therefore in this study we analyses the condition of physicians counseling about fasting from the perspective of patients. Methods:In this descriptive analytical cross-sectional study, patients with diabetes and hypertension who were going to doctors in Isfahan in holy month of Ramadan of 2012 and 2013 completed the questionnaires. A valid self-regulation questionnaire including patient`s satisfaction from the quality of physicians counseling about fasting (In the area of education, evaluation of the patient condition, communication /relationship with patients), caring for diseases in holy Ramadan and the incidence of symptoms in fasting had been used with  = 0.76. The patients completed the questionnaire after visit. The data was analyzed by Independent t-test, chi-square, Regression, one-way ANOVA in the19 spss software. Results: 285 patients, 199(69.8%) female and 86(30.2%) male, were selected. The mean satisfaction score of counseling was 70.50 ±13.23. The highest score (75.36±14.16) was referred to counseling of physician, and the least score (66.09±18.84) to patient assessment by physician. Mean score of Patientsʹ satisfaction of specialists was higher than of general practitioner (p-value<0.0001). There were no significant differences between mean score of patientsʹ satisfaction and their education, age, sex, disease and disease duration. In about one-third of cases, there weren’t any conversation about Ramadan fasting. The most common symptoms during fasting were fatigue and headache. Conclusion:The quality of medical counseling for holy Ramadan in Isfahan was relatively appropriate but it is far from what is expected. It is necessary that physicians pay more attention to counseling for fasting in holy Ramadan.