Specialist diabetes counselling and interprofessional collaboration in three linguistic regions of Switzerland

To sustainably improve diabetes care in Switzerland through evidence-based, coordinated and quality-assured interprofessional collaboration, thereby reducing diabetes-related complications in the long term.

The project analyses interprofessional collaboration, care structures and regional differences to avoid overlap and close gaps in provision. Building on this, uniform quality indicators will be developed and interprofessional education and continuing professional development will be strengthened to improve care and prevention.

To achieve these objectives, this project is divided into five work packages (WPs):

WP1: Analysis of interprofessional collaboration

Existing models of collaboration between diabetes specialist nurses, medical practice coordinators and advanced practice nurses (APNs) will be examined, with a focus on the distribution of competencies, clearly defined roles and potential overlaps or gaps .

WP2: Development of suitable indicators

Standardised indicators will be defined and implemented to systematically assess the quality and effectiveness of diabetes counselling and care, as well as interprofessional collaboration.

WP3: Investigation of regional differences

Geographical differences in the uptake of diabetes counselling under Art. 9c KLV will be analysed to identify possible causes such as limited accessibility, quality issues or gaps in care provision.

WP4: Optimisation of care structures

Based on the findings, concrete measures to improve existing structures will be derived in order to strengthen preventive and therapeutic diabetes care and coordination in primary care.

WP5: Promotion of interprofessional education

Education and training programmes will be (further) developed and promoted to strengthen interprofessional collaboration and to support clear allocation of competencies and roles.

The optimising of care delivery and interprofessional collaboration aims to improve primary care for this patient group with chronic conditions and, in the long term, reduce microvascular and macrovascular complications in people with diabetes.