Clemens Kristin K, Ouédraogo Alexandra M, Liu Selina L, Bleah Paulina, Mikalachki Amanda, Spaic Tamara
Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, St. Joseph's Health Care London, London, ON, Canada.
J Multimorb Comorb. 2021 Dec 13;11:26335565211062758. doi: 10.1177/26335565211062758. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.
Patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) have complex diabetes care needs. Diabetes educators can play an important role in their clinical care.
To understand diabetes educators' experience providing diabetes support to patients with CKD and elicit their view on the additional care needs of this population.
We conducted a quantitative online survey of diabetes educators between May 2019 and May 2020. We surveyed English-speaking educators actively practicing in Ontario, Canada for at least 1 year. We recruited them through provincial Diabetes Education Programs and Diabetes Education Section Chairs of Diabetes Canada.
We made email contact with 219/233 (94%) Diabetes Education Programs and 11/12 (92%) provincial Diabetes Canada Section Chairs. 122 unique diabetes educators submitted complete surveys (survey participation rate ∼79%). Most worked in community education programs (91%). Almost half were registered nurses (48%), and 39% had practiced for more than 15 years. Respondents noted difficulty helping patients balance complex medical conditions (19%), faced socioeconomic barriers (17%), and struggled to provide dietary advice (16%). One-third were uncertain of how to support those receiving dialysis. Eighty-five percent felt they needed more training and education to care for this high-risk group. When asked about the care needs of patients with CKD, almost all (90%) felt that patients needed more diabetes support in general. Improvement in care coordination was most commonly suggested (38%).
In this study of the diabetes educators' experience treating patients with diabetes and CKD, respondents noted numerous challenges. There may be opportunities to better support both diabetes care professionals, and patients who live with multiple medical comorbidities.
糖尿病和慢性肾脏病（CKD）患者有复杂的糖尿病护理需求。糖尿病教育工作者在他们的临床护理中可以发挥重要作用。
了解糖尿病教育工作者为CKD患者提供糖尿病支持的经验，并引出他们对该人群额外护理需求的看法。
2019年5月至2020年5月，我们对糖尿病教育工作者进行了一项定量在线调查。我们调查了在加拿大安大略省积极从业至少1年的英语教育工作者。我们通过省级糖尿病教育项目和加拿大糖尿病协会糖尿病教育分会主席招募他们。
我们与219/233（94%）个糖尿病教育项目以及11/12（92%）位省级加拿大糖尿病协会分会主席进行了电子邮件联系。122名不同的糖尿病教育工作者提交了完整的调查问卷（调查参与率约79%）。大多数人在社区教育项目工作（91%）。几乎一半是注册护士（48%），39%的人从业超过15年。受访者指出在帮助患者平衡复杂病情方面存在困难（19%），面临社会经济障碍（17%），并且在提供饮食建议方面存在困难（16%）。三分之一的人不确定如何支持接受透析的患者。85%的人认为他们需要更多培训和教育来护理这个高危群体。当被问及CKD患者的护理需求时，几乎所有人（90%）都认为患者总体上需要更多的糖尿病支持。最常被建议的是改善护理协调（38%）。
在这项关于糖尿病教育工作者治疗糖尿病和CKD患者经验的研究中，受访者指出了许多挑战。可能有机会更好地支持糖尿病护理专业人员以及患有多种合并症的患者。
