Perceived and actual level of knowledge of diabetes mellitus among nurses

The purpose of this study was to survey staff nurses on their perceived and actual level of knowledge of diabetes mellitus. A convenience sample of 184 professional staff nurses from both inpatient and outpatient settings of a large research-teaching hospital was surveyed. The Diabetes Self-Report Tool (Cronbach's alpha = .91) was used to assess staff nurses' perceptions of knowledge of diabetes mellitus. The Diabetes: Basic Knowledge Test (DBKT; Cronbach's alpha = .79) was used to measure the actual level of knowledge of diabetes mellitus. The data were analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficients. A moderately low negative correlation (r = -.36, P less than .001) indicated that the staff nurses' perceived knowledge of diabetes mellitus was inversely related to actual knowledge. Subjects were found to have a mean score of 64% on the DBKT. Study findings raise questions as to the adequacy of staff nurse knowledge of diabetes and the ability of staff nurses to assess themselves for knowledge deficits.