Implementation of a Diabetes Nutritional Education Module for Nurses in Ambulatory Care Medical Clinic

Download or read book Implementation of a Diabetes Nutritional Education Module for Nurses in Ambulatory Care Medical Clinic written by Geraldine Haughton and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Background: The Center for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that 9.4% of the US population has diabetes. The number of individuals with diabetes in Brooklyn, where the intervention was conducted, exceeds that of other counties in New York State. Diabetic patients living in Brooklyn are not adequately receiving the medical attention and education they need to fight this debilitating disease. The project site, Kings County Hospital Ambulatory Care Clinic, serves many patients with diabetes, however diabetes nutritional education resources are lacking. Nutrition is a fundamental part of diabetes care. The main goals are to maintain normal blood glucose levels and to prevent complications of diabetes. However, insufficient diabetes education and knowledge continue to be serious challenges for patients. Nurses have also been found to be deficient in their knowledge of diabetes nutrition management and they face a dated evidence-based nutrition program. Thus, the need for nurses' diabetes management education in the ambulatory care setting is paramount. Evidence Base Framework (EBP): Rosswurm and Larrabee's Conceptual Model for Change to Evidence Based Practice offers a systematic process for developing and implementing the practice change. The diabetic educational protocol and intervention utilized the nursing theory underpinnings of Pender. Methods: The objective of the study was to assess the outcome of a diabetes nutrition education intervention among nurses practicing in ambulatory care. The study employed a convenience sample of 35 registered staff nurses working at a large urban ambulatory care clinic. Each of the 35 nurses completed a Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT) before and after the educatio intervention. Descriptive statistics were computed for study variables, and paired t-tests and one sample t-test were used to conduct the inferential analysis of the impact of diabetes education intervention on nurses' diabetes management knowledge as measured by the DKT. Findings/Result: The results of the study suggest that the diabetes education intervention had a significant effect on nurses' diabetes knowledge, causing nurses' DKT scores to increase by over 13 points. Oher results suggest that, prior to intervention, nurses' knowledge of diabetes nutrition information was significantly lower than their knowledge of diabetes non-nutrition information, and that the interventio had a relatively greater impact on diabetes nutrition knowledge than on diabetes non-nutrition knowledge. Conclusion/Recommendations: Given that diabetes educational intervention improves nurses' knowledge of diabetes management, we can expect that, provided with enhanced evidence-based nutrition information, nurses will induce positive behavior changes in their patients. Such changes can result in healthy food choices and improved health. Therefore, the study recommends that large urban ambulatory care settings implement ongoing educational training on diabetes management to increase nurses' knowledge.