Diabetes knowledge of nurses in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Nurses are expected to effectively manage and educate the growing number of patients with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa. This review aimed to map and describe literature relating to the nurses' diabetes knowledge and the factors promoting and hindering the acquisition of their knowledge.

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scoping review.

A systematic literature search was conducted in electronic databases, such as CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, African Journals Online and Web of Science and grey literature. Authors and experts in diabetes care and scoping reviews were also contacted. Included studies were assessed using the inclusion criteria developed in advance. Searches were conducted between March and June 2020 and updated in November 2024. Results were presented descriptively.

A total of 2974 records were retrieved through systematic database and hand searches, resulting in 1900 records when duplicates were removed. Of these, 250 potentially relevant studies were identified for thorough assessment for eligibility. The process yielded 20 studies that focused on diabetes knowledge among nurses in sub-Saharan Africa. Most studies reported gaps in diabetes knowledge among nurses including pathology, laboratory investigations, insulin therapy, type two diabetes treatment, exercise, diet and complications. Barriers to diabetes knowledge acquisition included lack of hospital guidelines, staff, training and inadequate salary. Facilitators included experience in managing or counselling patients with diabetes and refresher nutrition courses.

Nurses in sub-Saharan Africa have gaps in diabetes knowledge. Further research is required on tailor-made strategies for enhancing the nurses' diabetes knowledge and implementation of the same to prepare nurses and other clinical team members to effectively care for, support and teach patients with diabetes.