Type 2 Diabetes and Lifestyle Discussions With Practice Nurses in Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review of Patient Experiences.
Sharon Hills, Daniel Terry, Swapnali Gazula and 1 others
PMID 41025146WHAT IT FOUND
People with type 2 diabetes valued practice nurse consultations that were unhurried, friendly and specific.
They wanted clear diet and activity advice, help interpreting blood glucose results, and continuity, not generic leaflets or rushed 10-minute checks.
Key findings
01Unhurried, face-to-face consultations with practice nurses were valued, while rigid 10-minute appointments were disliked.
02Patients wanted more explicit, tailored lifestyle advice and more explanation of how their test results related to diet and activity.
03Other health conditions, physical limitations and caring responsibilities made following lifestyle advice difficult.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This scoping review mapped patient experiences and did not test whether any nurse communication style improves diabetes outcomes. Only English peer-reviewed primary studies from January 2010 to May 2025 were included, and grey literature was not searched. No article that addressed the research question was excluded after quality appraisal, so quality was not used to filter the themes. Only 10 studies were retained, from a limited set of countries. One included study involved both practice nurses and medical secretaries, so the findings may not be specific to nurses alone.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that longer or more detailed nurse consultations improve diabetes control. The review reports patient experiences, and the included studies were qualitative or mixed-methods studies whose quantitative data were not used.