Introduction:

Refusal of physicians to prescribe insulin to their patients has been scarcely evaluated; the delay in treatment intensification hinders adequate and quality care.

Objective:

To identify the perception of primary care physicians about barriers to initiate insulin treatment in patients with diabetes.

Method:

Using the Smith Index and multivariate analysis, the relevance and grouping of concepts related to barriers to insulin prescription were assessed in 81 family doctors.

Results:

Only 35.8% of physicians showed confidence for prescribing insulin; almost half of them rated treatment intensification between moderately and little important (39.5% and 6.2%). Barriers were related to the physician (39.5%), the patient (37%), insulin treatment (11.1%) and the institution (6.2%); 6.2 % of physicians did not perceive any barrier. The barriers were grouped in 5 factors that explained 62.48% of the variance: patient cultural level, lack of medical skills, fear of adverse events, insecurity and lack of training.

Conclusion:

Clinical inertia was not the result of a complex medical condition or patient comorbidities, but of doctor’s perception and confidence in his/her clinical and communication skills.