Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Janice Long

Abstract

Diabetes affects an estimated 29.1 million Americans, with approximately another 1/3 of Americans not yet diagnosed. Complications associated with diabetes include heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blindness, kidney disease, neuropathy and death. All of these complications can be prevented with optimal control of blood glucose levels. Advances in technology provide people living with diabetes (PLWD) a multitude of treatment options such as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy. Unfortunately, sustained improvement in glycated hemoglobin A1c (HgA1c) is not always achieved even with this advanced therapy. The purpose of this doctoral project was to educate nurses on CSII therapy and promote improved patient compliance, knowledge and ultimately improve HgA1c control. This doctoral project is an evaluation of an Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Project (EB-QIP) that evaluated nurse-led educational sessions for PLWD using CSII therapy. The integrated theory of health behavior change was used to guide the project. The CDC process evaluation model was used to evaluate the outcomes of the education sessions. Results showed that patients who were instructed by the nurses who took part in the EB-QIP had a reduction in the overall HgA1c by an average of 1.1 points 3-months post-education. The project promotes positive social change through establishing the effectiveness of an EB-QIP that focused on the use of education on CSII therapy in improving outcomes for patients living with diabetes.

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