Nurses' perceptions about their role in educating a client with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic and insidious disorder of the endocrine system in which the amount of glucose in the blood is too high (Armstrong 1982, British Diabetic Association 1995, Lo et al 1996 and Hentzen 1997). Statistics show that DM ranks high amongst the Maltese population, having 89 deaths in 1997 due to DM from a population of 369,451 people (Demographic review of the Maltese Islands 1997). In addition diabetes education has evolved dramatically (Rubin et al 1989) and the educative role of the nurse is being considered of utmost importance (Beggan et al 1982, Baasch 1988, Coles 1990, Watson and Court 1994). The purpose of this small explorative study was an attempt to investigate nurses' perceptions of their role in educating a client with DM. A convenience sample of 22 female nurses with a response rate of 91 % (n=20) from three medical wards was selected. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire which incorporated quantitative and qualitative data including also a Likert scale which was developed by the student researcher. Data was analysed through content analysis. Findings revealed that nurses perceive education as an important factor in their role. Participants also expressed the need for further education to update their knowledge. A significant finding was that the majority of nurses (19) felt confident when caring for clients with DM. Also nurses agreed that the nurses' role is to encourage self-care, teach continuously and encourage compliance. Shortage of staff, lack of time, client unwillingness to learn and overcrowding of clients in the ward emerged as factors hindering the nurses' educative role. Adversely nurse-patient relationship, educational resources, updating educational courses and nurses' knowledge were elements enhancing the nurses' role in educating clients with DM. Consequently nurses caring for clients with DM seem to be confronting many challenges (Hendry 1995) when helping patients to prevent or delay chronic complications (Haas 1993). Further research and recommendations on the educative role of the nurse on diabetes are also outlined.