Diabetes Teaching

Abstract

Recorded in studies by Nickerson (1972), Watkins (1967), and Liefson (1967); diabetic patients lack self- care knowledge. Prompted by these studies, 53 hospitalized diabetic patients received evaluation of selected knowledge before and after multidisciplined teaching. Collection of descriptive data included: age, sex, education, regulation method, family history of diabetes, and years with diabetes. Speaking and understanding English and not being critically ill were the only restrictions placed on the sample. Before and after teaching, a selected interviewer administered an identical questionnaire containing 22 open-end diabetic related question. Point valves for each question were predetermined and recordings were made of scores before and after teaching. Diabetic teaching included basic knowledge area; pathophysiology of diabetes, diet, medication, foot and skin care, hyper/hypoglycemia, urine testing, and control methods. The scores after teaching showed a significant increase of knowledge for all diabetic patients involved in this study.