REVISITING NURSE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DIABETES - AN UPDATE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

This study attempted to ascertain the diabetes knowledge level of nurs es in a university medical center to describe correlates Of nurse know ledge, and to compare levels of diabetes knowledge between nursing uni ts. A convenience sample of staff nurses (n=99) from six inpatient uni ts and an ambulatory care center volunteered to complete a previously developed, 45-item questionnaire testing their knowledge of basic conc epts about diabetes mellitus. Analysis of variance, comparing the nurs ing units, indicated a significant difference between units (P=.04) on the knowledge questionnaire. In a 4-step, hierarchial, multiple regre ssion analysis, variables related to how competent the nurses felt in caring for diabetic patients and the number of diabetic patients cared for in the past month explained 28% of the variance in diabetes knowl edge. Although this study corroborates earlier findings, questions sti ll remain concerning the general adequacy of nurses' knowledge about d iabetes.