Inpatient nursing staff knowledge on hypoglycaemia management

Abstract

Hypoglycaemia is a major barrier to intensive glycaemic control and although the 2016 National Diabetes Inpatient Audit showed that the prevalence of hypoglycaemia has decreased from 26% to 20% since 2011, 1 in 5 inpatients with diabetes still experience hypoglycaemia during their hospital stay. Consequently, it is vital to evaluate whether nursing staff have the right knowledge to manage hypoglycaemia and if not, the reasons why. Using a questionnaire, a study was carried out at a large inner-city hospital in order to identify any gaps in hypoglycaemia management between nursing staff on the diabetes, vascular and critical care wards. As expected, the snapshot audit showed more hypoglycaemia episodes occurred in the diabetes wards and patients across the three wards mostly experienced hypoglycaemia during the night. Therefore, the difference between the day and night shift nurses' hypoglycaemia management was also evaluated. © 2018 SB Communications Group.. All Rights Reserved