Assessment of diabetes knowledge amongst nursing students

Background and Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic multifactorial disorder characterized by carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism abnormalities. Nurses play a crucial the role as the facilitator to improve the self-care and quality of life among the diabetic patient. Thus to provide good quality care of diabetics nurses should have a continuing education in diabetes educational strategies and behavioural intervention beyond their basic preparation. Hence we took up the study to assess the level of knowledge about diabetes among the nursing students.Materials and Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire based study was conducted. Pretested questionnaire was used to assess the gap in knowledge of diabetes. The questionnaire was administered to all the nursing students who consented at our Institute. Data was tabulated and analysed using excel sheet.Results: A total of 62 nursing students participated in the study. In this study we found to poor knowledge required to manage patients with diabetes, as student nurses were beginners during their period of graduation.Conclusion: There is a need for regular appraisal of nursing student’s knowledge by conduction educational training programme/workshop at initial stages. The deficits area identified in this study can be a corner stone for initiating educational programmes.