Award Date

5-1-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing (ND)

Department

Nursing

First Committee Member

Susan VanBeuge

Second Committee Member

Carolyn E. Sabo

Third Committee Member

Timothy Bungum

Number of Pages

81

Abstract

Background and purpose: As the cost of health care continues to climb in the United States, hospitals are seeing longer lengths of stay and associated costs resulting from the complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). Registered nurses (RNs) play a critical role in caring for patients with DM. Rapid changes in the care of DM require continuing education on the current trends and the use of evidence-based practices to prevent hypoglycemia as a serious complication of lowering blood glucose levels. This doctoral project assessed the knowledge levels of RNs caring for patients with DM in the hospital setting.

Methods: Eighty-five RNs from a single urban hospital’s intensive care units were asked to complete a fill-in-the-blank survey based on an electronic version of the validated Diabetes Awareness Questionnaire© (Rubin, Moshang, & Jabbour, 2007).

Results: With 23 respondents from two intensive care units, the overall mean percentage score for the DAQ was 48.8%. Respondents scored below this mean value in three of the six survey categories: perioperative insulin management, 0%; diagnosis and treatment of DM, 32.61%; and diabetic ketoacidosis management, 42.75%. Thus, these topics represented particular knowledge gaps. A 2-hour education program was developed on these topics to improve RN knowledge levels related to DM care.

Conclusion: The DAQ survey results support the view that RNs in the hospital setting do not have the most current knowledge in caring for patients with DM. Continuing efforts to increase RN knowledge of DM care are needed to decrease hypoglycemic events and improve the quality of care for patients during their hospitalization.

Keywords

DAQ; Diabetes; DKA; Education; Hypoglycemia; Knowledge

Disciplines

Nursing

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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