Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Cheryl McGinnis

Abstract

Nurses play a central role in preparing patients for discharge. Diabetes affects one-third of all hospitalized patients, with readmission rates 20% higher for patients with diabetes. Low health literacy affects patients' ability to understand education provided during a hospitalization, especially in diabetic patients who are required to perform complex self-care activities. The rehabilitation nurses within the practicum site struggled to provide adequate diabetes education, leading to patients' readmissions and frequent calls to the nursing unit post discharge. The purpose of this project was to educate nurses on an inpatient unit about survival skills and teach-back approaches to improve inpatient diabetes education. Orem's self-care nursing deficit theory guided the project. Nursing literature provided current evidence-based practice guidelines on diabetes education for the staff education program. An expert panel was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the project in improving rehabilitation nurses' knowledge, skills, and ability to administer patient education to diabetic patients using the teach-back method. All 6 expert panel members agreed that the in-service content was relevant to the environment and would improve the nurses' ability to deliver diabetic education on the rehabilitation unit using the teach-back method. Current knowledge of diabetes education practices and strategies to overcome low health literacy can bring positive social change and improve nursing practice by advancing the nurses' ability to provide inpatient diabetes education.

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