Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The involvement of nurses in diabetes patient education has an important contribution in the improvement in the quality of care provided. Experience and knowledge in diabetes and its management are crucial for teaching patients with diabetes effectively.

Material and methods: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of nurse Training Course in the improvement of the knowledge of diabetes among nurses. Ten Diabetes Education Unit’s nurses, one per each Albania’s regional hospital, aged from 25 to 55 years old, underwent the Training. To evaluate the diabetes knowledge a multiple-choice questionnaire was assessed, before the training (T1), immediately after (T2) and 6 months after the training (T3).

Results: The nurses, eight women and two men aged 35.5 ±2.96 years old (median±S.E.M), having 9±3.2 years of working experience from which 5.5±3.4 years were in endocrinology. The mean knowledge score before the training was 45±2.9 out of 100. It improved to 68.5±1.4 immediately after and to 66±1.4 points 6 months after the training. There was a statistically significant difference between T1 and T2 results P=0.005, between T1 and T3 P=0.008, and between T2 and T3 P=0.025. A significant correlation was observed between the T1 score and the working years (r=6.667, P=0.05) and T1 score and the years working in endocrinology (r=0.729, P=0.026).

Conclusion: We observed an improvement of the diabetes knowledge among the nurses participating the training course and a slight knowledge decrease 6 months after the course. Only the first test result was influenced by the number of years working in endocrinology. These preliminary results suggest the importance of continuous education in improving diabetes knowledge and giving a better diabetes care.