Practice nurses’ role and knowledge about diabetes management within rural and remote Australian general practices

Abstract

Background: The increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity represents a significant disease burden in Australia. Practice nurses (PNs) play an important role in diabetes education and management. Aim: To explore PNs' roles, knowledge and beliefs about diabetes education and management in rural and remote general practice in Australia. Method: Exploratory study undertaken in three phases: 1) Pilot study to test the performance of the questionnaire; 2) One-shot cross-sectional survey using self-complete questionnaires; 3) Individual interviews. Results: Ten PNs completed the pilot test; the draft questionnaire was deemed appropriate to the study purpose. Then, 65 questionnaires were distributed to PNs and 21 responded. Fourteen respondents had worked in the role <5 years, and most PNs attended diabetes education programmes in their workplace. A minority (40%) used diabetes management guidelines regularly. Most knew obesity to be the most common risk factor for diabetes but only 50% knew that glycosylated haemoglobin indicates blood glucose levels over the preceding three months. Self-reported competency to assess patients' self-care practices and medication management practices varied. Conclusion: PNs' diabetes management was self-reported; their knowledge varied and their perceived benefits of diabetes education differed from those of patients.

Perspectives on the Attitudes of Healthcare Professionals toward Diabetes in Community Health Settings in United Arab Emirates

“…Unlike previous studies which focused on a particular category of HCPs [17]- [20], the current study is unique as our sample included most categories of HCPs with different specialties and backgrounds.…”

“…Despite the recent emphasis on the need for "interdisciplinary teams and "totalcare management" in which all categories of HCPs must directly coordinate and plan care for diabetic patients [17], many of the existing studies related to attitudes of HCPs toward diabetes were limited to one category of HCPs such as physicians [18], pharmacists [17]- [19] and nurses [20] with little focus on the role of dietitians. Hence, this study attempts to assess attitudes of all HCPs related to diabetes and compare those attitudes among subgroups of HCPs.…”

Examining perceived and actual diabetes knowledge among nurses working in a tertiary hospital

“…Inadequate knowledge of medication has been found among American and Jordanian nurses (Gerard, Griffin, & Fitzpatrick, 2010;Yacoub et al, 2014) and insufficient knowledge of insulin treatment among 27% of Pakistani registered nurses (RNs) (Ahmed, Jabbar, Zuberi, Islam, & Shamim, 2012). Australasian studies found that some 50% of participating nurses did not know that neuropathy, nephropathy, erectile dysfunction, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were associated with diabetes (Daly, Arroll, Sheridan, Kenealy, & Scragg, 2014;Livingston & Dunning, 2010). Studies in the United State (US) and United Kingdom (UK) also indicated RNs needing further training in blood glucose monitoring (BGM) (Gerard et al, 2010;Nash, 2009), as was also the case for 75.1% of Nigerian nurses (Oyetunde & Famakinwa, 2014).…”

The profile of diabetes healthcare professionals in Indonesia: a scoping review

“…). It is therefore vital for the HCPs to continually increase their skill and knowledge specific to diabetes, because the formal education they have received about diabetes care may not be adequate (Livingston & Dunning ) to manage complex diabetic presentations. Having specific skills is necessary to complement each other's roles (Gucciardi et al.…”