The aim of this study is to explore the experience of patients and/or their carers with regards to diabetes education/SSE provided by the nurse in the ward prior to their discharge
Methods:
A qualitative exploratory and descriptive design was used for this study. The setting for this study was a 608-bed tertiary hospital in Western Australian. Purposive sampling was used to recruit patients with a diagnosis of diabetes: patients receiving insulin, or injectable such as Byetta/Bydureon; or taking oral treatment, or patients with pancreatic insufficiency or pancreatic diabetes; patients with steroid induced hyperglycaemia diabetes. Patients and their carers were included in the study if they have been admitted to the hospital due to a primary complication of DM and not seen during their in-hospital stay by the Diabetes Clinical Nurse Consultant (DCNC).
Patients and carers were invited to participate in an audiotaped individual semi-structured phone interview. Participants were given an information sheet to read and were asked to sign a consent form if they wanted to take part in the study. Patients were contacted for a phone semi-structured interview between 1-2 weeks post discharge. The interviews were conducted by a research nurse who was experienced in qualitiative interviewing. Interviews were audiotaped and conducted in a closed room to ensure privacy. A semi-structured interview guide using a majority of open-ended questions designed to elicit patient and family members’ perspectives was developed for this study.
Results:
The audiotapes were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcriber. Thematic analysis of participants’ answers were analysed using constant comparison method to identify categories and themes in the data. All data were coded manually and analysed separately by three researchers then discussed at length until consensus was reached that the themes identified were an accurate representation of the participant’s spoken word.
Conclusion:
The findings from this study will provide direction for strategies regarding the provision of individualised and tailored survival skills education for hospitalised patients not able to be seen by the Diabetes Clinical Nurse Consultant. Leading to improved patient and carer satisfaction and support.
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