Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic-degenerative disease which is affecting the population increasingly, becoming a serious public health problem. In this study, it was carried out a survey of the main advice's received, at the time of diagnosis, by a group of diabetic patients. Twenty-nine individuals, from the "Program of Assistance to Diabetic of a Basic and District Unit of Health of Ribeirão Preto, SP", were interviewed. The majority of the advices received at the time of diagnosis (96.5%) for the treatment of the disease, had only been given by the physicians, indicating the absence of other kind of health care professional in this activity. Only 17.2% of these prescriptions contemplated specific and complete orientations, including dietary, physical exercise and medications, and following the recommendations of the Brazilian Diabetes Society. On the other hand, 82.8% of the interviewed patients had received only specific guidance on pharmacological treatment associated or not with dietary, both of them without instructions on physical exercise. From these results, it can be concluded that the health care teams should review their own practices concerning the health education on type 2 Diabetes Mellitus treatment, focusing on the orientations towards patients change in lifestyle. Furthermore, it is important to have multiprofessional health team, aiming to improve the quality of the health care given to these patients.
diabetes mellitus; orientation; public health
