Needs assessment survey regarding effectiveness of chronic care in diabetes in a hospital setting

To assess the current knowledge level about diabetes and acceptance of nurse-led educational programmes among diabetic patients.

The cross-sectional study was conducted at a community health centre in Karachi from August, 2018 to December, 2019 and comprised adult patients of either gender with diabetes. Data was collected using a predesigned questionnaire to record demographic information, participants' DM knowledge, self-management aspects and their opinions along with preferences for a DM educational support group. Data was analysed using STATA/SE 15.1.

Of the 215 participants, 80(37%) were males and 135(63%) were females. The overall mean age was 55.8±14.5 yrs. Most participants had diabetes for ≥5 years 127(59%) and 141(66%) did not know their type of diabetes. Most participants were prescribed anti-diabetic medications 201(94%), and 45(2%) had forgotten to take their medication recently. Insulin was being used by 65(30%) participants, and, among them, 27(42%) reused syringes. Most patients struggled to make lifestyle modifications 133(62%), and 144 (67%) were willing to attend nurse-led diabetic education sessions.

There was found to be a need of diabetes education support programme to address knowledge deficiencies, and a nurse-led programme was found to be acceptable to the majority of study subjects.