Nursing students' knowledge about diabetes mellitus.

This study investigated whether senior nursing students about to graduate from baccalaureate programs were knowledgeable enough about diabetes mellitus to teach diabetic patients and their families. The sample consisted of 144 volunteer subjects from four colleges in a metropolitan area. A student was considered eligible to teach diabetic patients if he could answer all questions correctly on a 34-item instrument. Three additional questions dealt with extracurricular contact with diabetes: was the student diabetic? Had he a diabetic in the immediate family? Had he taught diabetics? None of the participants answered all questions correctly; one student scored 31 correct answers. Only two questions were answered correctly by all students. The study indicated that the graduating students were not prepared to do diabetic teaching.