Diabetes Knowledge of Critical Care Nurses: A Quality Improvement Project

Diabetes mellitus continues to become more prevalent in the United States, with approximately 1.5 million new cases diagnosed each year (ADA, 2018). Nurses play a key role in providing education to diabetic patients on the management of this disease. This encompasses a multitude of topics such as diabetic medications, treatments, and lifestyle choices that ultimately may aid in decreased morbidity and mortality otherwise associated with the disease and its co-morbidities. However, nurses’ own perceived diabetes knowledge has been found to be overestimated when compared to actual nursing knowledge (Alotaibi, Ghlizadeh, Al-Ganmi & Perry, 2017; Wakefield & Wilson, 2014). Research also illustrates that the actual knowledge of diabetes care is suboptimal, and educational programs specifically tailored to diabetes management knowledge result in an improvement from pre-test scores with subsequent retention of the materials presented (Moattari, Moosavinasab, Dabaghmanesh, & SarifSanaiey, 2014; Sweeney, Kenny and Schubert, 2013). The following literature review appraises current practice in diabetes management and evaluates literature regarding actual knowledge of nurses caring for inpatient diabetics. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine whether the implementation of a diabetic education program improves nurses’ knowledge in the medical management, treatment, and care of the adult critical care patient with hyperglycemia. Results demonstrated variability in baseline knowledge and overall significant improvement in scores which validated the need for this program and may indicate a need to focus future educational programs on the care of the patient with diabetes