Endocrine Abstracts

The work was initiated to assess basic level of knowledge on essential concepts of type I diabetes mellitus among nurses employed at regional dispensaries of Uzbekistan.

We tested 194 nurses employed at the endocrinologist’s offices and regional endocrinological dispensaries to assess level of knowledge on essential concepts of type I diabetes mellitus by means of a 20 question test made up under a 5-day training program in the School of Diabetes.

The testing demonstrated that initial basic level of knowledge among nurses in Uzbekistan as a whole was 65%, the highest one being registered in Tashkent (83%), the lowest one in Djizak (55%), Bukhara (58%) and Khorezm (58%) regions. Analyzing answers to each question we found that there were 91.8% of right answers to questions about distinguishing features of type I and type II diabetes mellitus, 89% of respondents gave right answers to question about changes in blood glucose upon insulin deficiency to indicate not bad level of knowledge on these concepts in Uzbekistan as a whole. 70% of nurses knew a thing or two about glucagon. 56% chose right answer to a question about substances (proteins, fats or carbohydrates) facilitating increase of blood glucose. 54% of respondents knew about renal threshold of glucose. 82% of nurses knew normal values of glycemia. Only 57% of respondents had a good command of type I DM criteria of compensation in children and adolescents. 42% of respondents gave right answers to questions about value of measurement of glycated hemoglobin. Enquiry after training demonstrated the best results in Navoyi, Surkhandarya, Tashkent, Kashkadarya and Samarkand regions where right answers were given to 95–100% of questions. The lowest level of knowledge was found in Djizak, Bukhara and Khorezm regions indicating necessity of the repeated training and build-up of control over the regions.

The tested nurses were found not to have adequate knowledge about clinical picture and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, misapprehending first-aid treatment upon acute complications and having a vague idea about insulin injection technique. Constant monitoring of a diabetic self-control should be performed by all health care professionals contacting with the patients.