Nurses' knowledge regarding health education content for diabetic clients at a selected Referral Hospital, Rwanda

Abstract

Background: Type 2 diabetes is the most prevalent form in Sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. Its prevalence is more than 90% of diabetic cases worldwide. Overweight and obesity are the 2 main risk factors for the disease. The basic principle of teaching type 2 diabetics about DSME is mainly to give them “survival skills” to have their disease under control. Nurses have insufficient knowledge on the content of type 2 diabetes education. Problem statement: Nurses do not provide adequate health education to diabetic patients. No previous related studies conducted in Rwanda and we do not know what nurses know regarding health education for type 2 diabetics. Aim: To explore nurses' knowledge about health education content for type 2 diabetic clients. Research question: How much knowledge do nurses have on the content of type 2 DM health education? Significance of the study: The study will inform the health workers on issues related with health education and the study can also inform new guidelines and protocols. Methodology: This quantitative study used total population sampling strategy with descriptive cross-sectional design. The study was conducted at CHUB in medical and surgical wards, on 53 nurses. Data collection took 1 month to complete. Data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 23. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in this study. Results: Nurses exhibited poor knowledge. Good knowledge for blood glucose self-monitoring was 17.6%, for exercise it was 41.2%, for nutrition it was 30.7%, for medications use it was 21.1%, and for diabetic foot it was 51%. Knowledge on DM issues in general was 46.3%, mean knowledge score being 34.6%. There was no relationship between the level of education and the level of knowledge regarding diabetes health education. Recommendations: There is a need to increase the level of knowledge among nurses and incorporate type 2 diabetes health education in the curricula.