Improving Diabetes Care | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU News Services. The author of this post is Natalie Sayewich.


    Dr. Shiv Patil, a family physician, diabetologist and faculty member at the ECU Brody School of Medicine, was named the recipient of the 2020 Health Care Provider Award from the North Carolina Diabetes Advisory Council.

    The award is given annually to recognize those who have demonstrated exemplary work in diabetes prevention and management. It is awarded to a hospital, clinic, health care organization or person in the health care field who has provided support in one or more of the strategies outlined in North Carolina's Guide to Diabetes Prevention and Management.

    Patil accepted the honor at a virtual award ceremony during the council's fall virtual meeting on Nov. 13.

    Although the honor was awarded individually, Patil emphasized the importance of ECU Physicians's team-based approach to diabetes prevention and management.

    "When it comes to a chronic disease like diabetes, managing it is not just a physician's responsibility. We actually need a team — and that team involves the patient and their family as well," Patil said. "We have our providers, leadership, dieticians, diabetes educators, pharmacists, nursing, patient access, and administrative staff, health coaches, and researchers. I think we have a really good system here at ECU and in our Family Medicine Department. So, when I see this award, it's not just for me, it's for our team and our organization. I thank all of them and those who supported my nomination."

    Patil received his medical doctorate from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, India, in 2004, and completed his Family Medicine residency at ECU and Vidant. He holds a master's degree in Public Health Epidemiology from Texas A&M and has completed clinical, research and faculty development fellowships, including a diabetes and metabolism fellowship at ECU in 2014 under the mentorship of late Dr. Robert Tanenberg. Patil also developed ECU Family Medicine's interprofessional diabetes care clinic in 2015.

    "Especially here in eastern North Carolina, a lot of the patients that we see in our clinics or in the hospital, they have diabetes," Patil said. "It doesn't just affect one organ. It affects the entire body. It can cause stroke, heart disease, it can cause kidney problems and eye problems, amputations, it can cause problems during pregnancy and so on."

    Patil said that new scientific and medical advances in the field are impressive and encouraging, but many patients in eastern North Carolina don't have access to those treatments, which is part of what drives him to improve diabetes care in the primary care setting in eastern North Carolina.

    "I think this is a field where you can make an impact on multiple levels: in preventing diabetes, in managing diabetes, preventing complications," he said. "It goes beyond the individual patient level to the organizational and community level as well."

    Patil was nominated for the award by Kay Craven, the nutrition and patient education section head for the Brody School of Medicine's Department of Family Medicine and clinical nutrition services director for ECU Physicians who has worked as Patil's colleague for several years.

    "Since I have known him, he has been an advocate for helping patients with diabetes to live healthier lives," Craven said. "His patients often share that he is compassionate, and they greatly appreciate his kind and thorough care.

    "Dr. Patil understands that the best way to prevent the complications of diabetes is to prevent it to begin with, not just to treat it," Craven said. "He has now become our champion for teaching staff and residents to recognize and diagnose prediabetes and talk with patients about a treatment plan. He is always on the forefront of making sure patients get the best care possible."