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1. Introduction
Effective care for diabetic patients implies coordinated and multidisciplinary work where primary
and also specialised care are involved.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a disease where medical advances are constantly taking place,
both in the diagnosis as well as its handling and treatment. Changes in the diagnostic criteria,
marketing of new drugs for glycemic control and the permanent publication of new studies on the
efficacy of cardiovascular risk factors must be assessed and incorporated to clinical practice as
appropriate by those professionals responsible for the care of diabetic patients.
The existence of an updated Clinical Practice Guideline can be a useful tool to provide answers
to those questions posed when dealing with a diabetic patient.
One of the proposals of the strategy on diabetes of the National Health System (1) is to
“guarantee that the treatment and follow-up of diabetic patients complies with the best criteria
and quality standards as regards health care”. Thus, it is recommended to “create, adapt or adopt
and subsequently implement, within the Autonomous Communities, integrated guides on clinical
practice according to the priorities and quality criteria established by the National Health System”.
This is one of the reasons for choosing diabetes as a topic for one of the Clinical Practice
Guidelines of the program to create clinical practice guidelines based on evidence and which will
help the decision-making processes within the Spanish National Health System (NHS).
CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE ON TYPE 2 DIABETES 25