Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disease, which is developed because of absolute or relative deficiency of insulin.
It can not be cured but can be controlled, so that the patient must know about diabetes and should be educated to control their disease and the management. To educate the patient, the nurses have to be in charge of educational programs in the hospital, because there are no diabetic instructor to teach patients in Korea.
The educational program should be adapted according to patient´s knowledge and attitude about their diseases. Therefore, the opportunity to assess the knowledge and attitude of diabetics should be provided.
The objectives of this study were:
1. To describe the genercal characteristics of diabetics.
2. To find out characteristics of relation to diabetics.
3. To study the knowledge of diabetics.
4. To compare the knowledge of diabetics before and after education.
This study was performed in 87 diabetics and including 36 diabetics who could be followed up in educational program, who registered and have not been educated in the diabetic clinic, at Chungnam National Hospital.
A. General characteristics of diabetics: The average age was 50. 3 years old, and male and female sex ratio was 1. 3:1.
B. The characteristics of relation to diabetics : Diabetes Mellitus was discovered due to
symptoms(72. 4%), during routine check(12. 6%), when the patient was being examed for
other diseases(14.9%). The percentage of patients receiving therapy of diabetes was only
31.0%; 17.2 0 on diet, 18.4 0 on oral hypoglycemic agents and 4. 6% on insulin therapy.
C. The knowledge of diabetes: The average score of knowledge was 13.2 points. Therewere a significant difference of score by each educational, economical level, duration of illness.
D. Comparison of score of knowledge before and after education There were highly significant difference of score before (16. 70 points) and after education(44. 03 points), and the attitude of diabetics was changed significantly after education.
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