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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is a disease Registry?

2. What is the DRM-An Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (DRM-ADCM)?

3. Why DRM-An Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (DRM-ADCM)?

4. What is the purpose of DRM-An audit of Diabetes Control and Management?

5. Who should participate in DRM-ADCM?

6. How is DRM-ADCM organized?

7. Who Reports to the DRM-ADCM?

8. How can I participate in the DRM-ADCM?

9. What are the benefits of participating in the DRM-ADCM?

10. What about confidentiality?

1. What is a disease Registry?

Disease Registry or surveillance is defined as an ongoing, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of disease specific data, and timely dissemination of these consolidated and processed information essential to the planning, implementation and evaluation of clinical and public health practice, to contributors to the surveillance and other interested persons.

2. What is the DRM-An Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (DRM-ADCM)?

The DRM-An Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (DRM-ADCM) is a service supported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to collect information about diabetes in Malaysia. The information can be used to estimate the incidence of diabetes disease according to the types, to evaluate its risk factors and treatment in the country. Such information is useful for assisting the MOH, non-governmental organizations, private providers and industry in planning and evaluation, leading to diabetes disease prevention and control.

3. Why DRM-An Audit of Diabetes Control and Management (DRM-ADCM)?

There are several important issues when applying the rigorous standards and protocols from clinical trials into real-life practice. We should ask ourselves:

	Are the population and the patients groups in Malaysia similar to those being investigated in the clinical trials?
	Are our hospitals following the guidelines set out by the expert committees?
	Are we seeing the same results and benefits of implementing evidence-based strategies?
	Which strategy the best value in terms of cost-effectiveness for the Ministry?

Furthermore, much of what we understand about risk and likelihood of diabetes mellitus and indeed its incidence and prevalence are derived from ‘Western’ data. There is now an increasing awareness of ethnic variations and risk, socio-cultural and socio-economic influences as well as geographical variations. The risk prediction of diabetes mellitus is also unclear and may be different in the patients.

4. What is the purpose of DRM-An audit of Diabetes Control and Management?

The objectives of the DRM-ADCM are to:

	Determine the demographic & epidemiological characteristics of diabetes patients attending MOH healthcare facilities.
	Determine their clinical profile.
	Determine their prevalence of diabetes-related complications and related epidemiological characteristics.
	Determine their treatment outcomes.
	Facilitate service improvements by providing robust nationally comparable data on care, for outcome assessment & quality assurance.
	Stimulate & facilitate diabetes research activities.

5. Who should participate in DRM-ADCM?

Source data producers: All family medicine specialists and physicians in Malaysia who provide diabetes disease diagnostic services or who care for diabetic patients such as public health practitioner, health care provider, health service planner and decision maker, researchers, and voluntarily report data to the DRM-ADCM.

6. How is DRM-ADCM organized?

The DRM-ADCM is sponsored by the Ministry of Health and supported by several of its organizations:

	Disease Control Division, MOH
	Medical and Health Departments MOH
	Medical Development Division MOH
	Clinical Research Centre, Kuala Lumpur Hospital

A Governance Board has been established to oversee the operations of the DRM. The MOH, Universities, professional bodies, Non-Governmental Organization and private healthcare providers are represented on this committee to ensure that the DRM stay focus on its objectives, and to assure its continuing relevance and justification.

7. Who Reports to the DRM-ADCM?

For the DRM to succeed, ideally all doctors who have anything to do with diabetes disease ought to report to the DRM-ADCM. We urge you to do your part for your community, and help DRM obtain the information so crucial in promoting effective diabetes disease prevention and control.

The DRM receives data on diabetes disease from 2 main sources:

All family medicine specialists and physicians in Malaysia who provide diabetes disease diagnostic services or who care for diabetes disease patients, and voluntarily report data to the DRM-ADCM.

8. How can I participate in the DRM-ADCM?

For the DRM-ADCM to succeed, ideally all doctors who have anything to do with diabetes disease ought to report to the DRM-ADCM. We urge you to do your part for your community, and help DRM-ADCM obtain the information so crucial in promoting effective diabetes disease prevention and control.

9. What are the benefits of participating in the DRM-ADCM?

Apart from doing your bit for your community, here are some other benefits to being a reporter:

	Access to the database and to therefore study the trend of cancer disease in Malaysia.
	Online data query and statistics of your institution anytime, anywhere
	Online comparison of your institution data versus the country data anytime, anywhere
	Data security and privacy are in compliance with regulatory requirement
	Invitation to all functions organized by the DRM-ADCM.
	Acknowledgement in all publications of the DRM-ADCM.
	Complementary personal copy of all DRM publications.
	Tap into a network of like-minded people from diverse professional disciplines and backgrounds.

10. What about confidentiality?

Current legislation allows doctors to release their patients’ data to persons demonstrating a need, which is essential to public health and safety. The DRM-ADCM meets this requirement. The DRM-ADCM has also developed strict policies and procedures to maintain confidentiality in disclosure of data.