Jay H. Shubrook, DO: I'm Jay Shubrook, family physician and diabetologist at Touro University California in Vallejo. Joining me today is Neal Skolnik, professor of family and community medicine at the Sydney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He's going to talk about the brand-new American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines[1] and the very specific changes to the prioritization of medications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Welcome, Dr Skolnik.
Neil S. Skolnik, MD: Thank you so much, Jay.
Shubrook: We have new 2019 guidelines and abridged standards of care for primary care providers. Tell us more about this.
Skolnik: This is big information—a joint statement[2] of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the ADA on how we should approach medical management of type 2 diabetes. There are very few conditions that are more common or more confusing in primary care than the treatment of diabetes.
The statement comprises two important themes. The first is individualization of care and how to pick medicines. The second is what to use as the first injectable. There are major changes in each of these areas.
The first aspect of individualization of care is choosing the A1c goal.
