Abstract
Background
Nursing staff plays a major role in the delivery of insulin to hospitalized patients. We aimed at studying the adequacy of desired knowledge related to insulin in nursing staff in a tertiary care government-funded teaching hospital in India.
Methods
A cross-sectional descriptive design study was conducted to assess the basic insulin-related knowledge in nursing staff by a self-administered questionnaire.
Results
A total of 101 nursing staff accepted to participate in the study and returned the completed questionnaire. Forty-one participants were female and 60 were male. Almost 80% of participants denied as trained for diabetes management in hospitalized patients in their nursing curriculum. Eighty-seven participants were comfortable giving insulin. Only two participants could identify basal and bolus insulin as the type of insulin needed to manage hyperglycemia. Twenty-five participants could identify the strengths of insulin vials available in India and only 8 could correctly mention the colour code of the corresponding insulin syringe. Only 15 participants could correctly identify the commonly used routes of inulin administration. Thirty participants could identify all the correct subcutaneous injection sites, however, at least one wrong site was chosen by 78 participants and 8 participants did not answer. A similar deficit in knowledge was seen in hypoglycemia management, glucose monitoring, insulin storage, expiry of inulin and injection techniques.
Conclusion
This study shows a significant deficit in basic insulin-related knowledge in nursing staff. There is a need for continuous medical education of nursing staff to stay updated on Diabetes management.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Zimmet PZ. Diabetes and its drivers: the largest epidemic in human history? Clin Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017;3:1.
Anjana RM, Deepa M, Pradeepa R, Mahanta J, Narain K, Das HK, et al. Prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in 15 states of India: results from the ICMR-INDIAB population-based cross-sectional study. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017;5:585–96.
Institute of Safe Medication Practices. ISMP List of High-Alert Medications in Acute Care Settings. 2011. Available online: https://www.ismp.org/Tools/institutionalhighAlert.asp (accessed on 30th May 2019).
Budnitz DS, Pollock DA, Weidenbach KN, Mendelsohn AB, Schroeder TJ, Annest JL. National surveillance of emergency department visits for outpatient adverse drug events. JAMA. 2006;296:1858–66.
Health and Social Care Information Centre. National Diabetes Inpatient Audit 2016. Leeds: Health and social care information Centre; 2017.
Prescrire Editorial Staff. Insulin use: Preventable errors. Prescrire Int. 2014;23:14–7.
Derr RL, Sivanandy MS, Bronich-Hall L, Rodriguez A. Insulin-related knowledge among health care professionals in internal medicine. Diabetes Spectr. 2007;20:177–85.
US Pharmacopeia (2008) MEDMARX data report. Technical appendix 12: products most frequently involved in harmful medication errors (Categories E-I), CY 2006.
Garrouste-Orgeas M, Timsit JF, Vesin A, Schwebel C, Arnodo P, Lefrant JY, et al. Selected medical errors in the intensive care unit: results of the IATROREF study: parts I and II. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010;181(2):134–42.
Sampson MJ, Dozio N, Ferguson B, Dhatariya K. Total and excess bed occupancy by age, speciality and insulin use for nearly one million diabetes patients discharged from all English acute hospitals. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2007;77(1):92–8.
Donnan PT, Leese GP, Morris AD. Hospitalizations for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes compared with the nondiabetic population of Tayside, Scotland: a retrospective cohort study of resource use. Diabetes Care. 2000;23(12):1774–9.
Gerard SO, Griffin MQ, Fitzpatrick J. Advancing quality diabetes education through evidence and innovation. J Nurs Care Qual. 2010 Apr-Jun;25(2):160–7.
Robb A, Reid B, Laird EA. Insulin knowledge and practice: a survey of district nurses in Northern Ireland. Br J Community Nurs. 2017 Mar 2;22(3):138–45.
Yacoub MI, Demeh WM, Darawad MW, Barr JL, Saleh AM, Saleh MY. An assessment of diabetes-related knowledge among registered nurses working in hospitals in Jordan. Int Nurs Rev. 2014 Jun;61(2):255–62.
Baker GRP, Norton G, Flintoft V, et al. The Canadian adverse events study: the incidence of adverse events among hospital patients in Canada. Can Med Assoc J. 2004;170:1678–86.
Golden SH, Peart-Vigilance C, Kao WH, Brancati FL. Perioperative glycemic control and the risk of infectious complications in a cohort of adults with diabetes. Diabetes Care. 1999;22:1408–14.
Ahmann A. Reduction of hospital costs and length of stay by good control of blood glucose levels. Endocr Pract. 2004;10(Suppl. 2):53–6.
Bhatia V, Wilding GE, Dhindsa G, Bhatia R, Garg RK, Bonner AJ, et al. Association of poor glycemic control with prolonged hospital stay in patients with diabetes admitted with exacerbation of congestive heart failure. Endocr Pract. 2004;10:467–71.
Acknowledgments
We like to thank Dr. Pankhudi for contribution in data collection for the study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The data was collected after receiving proper Institutional Human Ethics Clearance.
Informed consent
Written informed consent was obtained from each participant before enrolment.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singh, R., Thilagawathi, T., Mansoor, S. et al. Diabetes education and basic insulin related knowledge assessment in nursing staff in a tertiary care hospital in India. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 40, 627–632 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00815-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-020-00815-6