Nursing perceptions of the importance of blood glucose monitoring in hospital wards

Abstract

Background/Aims Diabetes mellitus is increasingly prevalent among hospital inpatients. Management requires regular blood glucose monitoring by nurses, yet research into nurse perceptions of glucose management importance is lacking. Methods A 5-point Likert-scale survey was administered to 718 nurses at an Australian tertiary centre. Nurses were predominantly from acute medical wards (57%) and in the first decade of their career (66%). Results The six tested aspects of glucose monitoring were perceived as important by the majority, but the importance of timely management of abnormal glucose was rated lower by clinical nurse educators (4.33 vs 4.70, P=0.019) and by nurses with 5 or more years of experience compared with first-year nurses. Both predictors remained significant following multivariable adjustment (educator status odds ratio 0.51, P=0.043, years of nursing experience odds ratio 0.84, P=0.018). Conclusions These findings imply that concurrent nurse (re-)education in glucose management should be considered in the design and implementation of future glucose management programmes.