The Effect of Tele-nursing on Blood Glucose Control in the Elderly with Diabetes: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Diabetes is one of the most common debilitating diseases in the elderly and requires reasonable blood sugar control to prevent complications. Telenursing has been presented as a cost-effective method to control blood glucose levels.Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Tele-nursing on blood glucose control in the elderly with diabetes.  Method: The present clinical trial study was performed among diabetic elderly referring to the diabetes clinic in Rafsanjan City. Eighty participants were selected randomly and randomly divided into intervention and control groups based on the inclusion criteria. The intervention group was followed up via phone for three months. However, the control group received the intervention provided in the clinic. In addition to demographic characteristics and variables of diabetic patients, the Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured before and three months after the interventions.Results: The mean ages of participants were higher than 64 years (intervention group = 64.4± 4.9 and control group = 65.09± 5.63) with over eight years of diabetes history. Before the intervention, mean FBS and HbA1cof both groups showed no significant difference, but there was a considerable difference after the intervention. Paired T-test showed that after the intervention, the amount of FBS and HbA1c was reduced to 33.92± 21.51 and 1.51± 0.86, respectively.Implications for practice:  Our results indicate that the use of telenursing in elderly patients with diabetes is an effective strategy that leads to increased self-care and thus control of blood sugar.